Trump Hasn’t Kept His Biggest Campaign Promise One Year Since His Election

Donald Trump became president again in large part due to voter dissatisfaction with the economy. He's done little to change that a year after his election.

WASHINGTON ― At his final rally of the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump reiterated a key promise to voters that he would personally bring down the soaring prices and high cost of living that had dogged the administration of his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris and her boss, former President Joe Biden.

“The workers are getting destroyed. Her inflation disaster has made life unaffordable and cost families over $30,000,” Trump told voters last November in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a battleground state he flipped back into the Republican column. “Under my leadership, we are quickly going to turn this economic nightmare into an economic miracle. We will make America wealthy again, and we will make America affordable again.”

One year after his major victory, Trump is struggling to deliver on that promise, which was a significant reason why he beat Harris in the first place. Although gasoline prices have declined and mortgage rates have ticked down, other costs, including groceries, have skyrocketed. The price of beef, coffee and bananas have reached record highs. The latest data from the government actually shows inflation increasing as Trump’s global tariffs wreak havoc on U.S. consumers and his administration cracks down on immigrants.

Another big promise Trump made last year was that he would bring down the cost of energy, but the price of electricity has spiked across the country, putting even more of a squeeze on Americans struggling with the high cost of living.

Voters aren’t happy with Trump’s handling of the economy, and they don’t think he’s focused on fixing it. According to the latest Washington Post-ABC poll, 59% of Americans give Trump either a great deal or a good amount of blame for the current rate of inflation, and the approval of Trump’s handling of the economy stands at 37% vs. 62% who disapprove. Those findings were backed up by an NBC News poll conducted in October, which found that 65% of Americans believe Trump has fallen short of looking out for the middle class, and 66% expressed the same sentiment for the handling of inflation and the cost of living.