President Donald Trump was publicly humbled by inflation in Tuesday’s midterm elections, as rising prices provoked a blistering set of losses for Republicans in House, Senate and gubernatorial races.
asserted
prices → humble → races
Most voters said that Trump’s own policies had smothered growth and drove costs even higher, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of roughly 100,000 midterm voters.
uncertain
policies → say → voters
The president’s message that the fault lay with his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, didn’t land.
asserted
fault → lie → predecessor
Americans saw prices start to climb with Trump’s chaotic rash of tariffs last year, and energy costs spiked after he launched a war with Iran in February.
asserted
he → see → February
About two-thirds of voters said Trump’s own policies had fueled inflation.
asserted
policies → say → inflation
By contrast, only about half of 2022 midterm voters said this about Biden’s policies, according to AP VoteCast.
uncertain
half → say → VoteCast
Voters in states from California to Mississippi were broadly in agreement that Trump’s taxes on foreign imports have done more harm than good.
asserted
taxes → do → harm
The election results matched what voters had been telling pollsters for months, but Trump had campaigned with a decidedly deaf ear.
asserted
Trump → match → ear
“I’ve done a great job,” Trump said at one of his final midterm rallies in Iowa.
asserted
Trump → do → Iowa
“Prices are coming way down.”
asserted
Prices → come → ?
Voters have buyer’s remorse with Trump
Democratic victories in Tuesday’s midterms signaled that most voters don’t believe the economy or Trump is working for them.
Consumer prices are up 3.7% over the past 12 months, compared to an inflation rate of 3% when Trump began his second term.
asserted
Trump → have → term
The president told reporters on Wednesday that the Iran war “drove the gasoline up a little bit short-term,” but he felt the choice to fight Iran was worth it because of its push for nuclear weapons.
asserted
choice → tell → weapons
“If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again,” he said.
asserted
he → have → it
There is no guarantee that a House and Senate with a Democratic majority can fix an economy pestered by uncomfortably high inflation.
asserted
House → be → inflation
Trump and Congress would likely need to work on a bipartisan basis, or simply keep the economy stable enough to allow the Federal Reserve to ratchet down inflation through its setting of interest rates.
asserted
Reserve → need → rates
But voters did prefer Democrats to the status quo of a president who could govern with little to no congressional pushback from Republicans.
uncertain
who → prefer → Republicans
About 9 in 10 voters said the cost of living was a “crucial” or “major” factor in their vote for Congress.
asserted
cost → say → Congress
And about 6 in 10 of this group backed Democratic candidates in their local House races.
asserted
10 → back → races
The economy is still growing, but AI is a source of fear instead of hope
asserted
AI → grow → fear
The underlying economy is stronger than many Americans think, with the S&P 500 stock index up more than 10% so far this year and the unemployment rate at a healthy 4.2%.
asserted
index → underlie → %
Investors greeted the news of Democratic wins as a positive with stocks up on Wednesday.
asserted
stocks → greet → Wednesday
Still, the major driver of growth has been the buildout of artificial intelligence — a boom that Trump has actively stoked by refusing to codify more aggressive federal oversight.
asserted
Trump → stoke → oversight
Voters don’t share Trump’s optimism about AI, which he has renamed “super intelligence” in federal documents.
asserted
he → share → documents
Instead of buying the arguments that AI would increase productivity and accelerate growth, about 6 in 10 voters said AI will do more to hurt society.
asserted
AI → buy → society
The technology could displace workers as jobs get automated or it could be a financial bubble that if popped could wreak havoc on retirement savings.
uncertain
that → displace → savings
Despite the anxiety, only about one-quarter of voters said AI was a “crucial” factor.
asserted
AI → say → voters
Wealth isn’t trickling down to the middle class
Tech billionaires such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Elon Musk have become frequent guests of Trump, attending state dinners or jetting aboard with the president.
asserted
billionaires → trickle → president
But the growing concentration of wealth has been disconcerting for voters.
asserted
concentration → grow → voters
Nationwide, about 7 in 10 voters said the economy favors the wealthy, while only about 3 in 10 said it’s fair to everyday Americans.
asserted
it → say → Americans
The wealth gap has become so extreme that even a majority of voters with a 2025 household income of $300,000 or more in the tech-heavy state of California felt the economy was tilted toward the rich.
asserted
economy → become → rich
Still, a slight majority of voters across the country had a “somewhat” or “very” favorable impression of capitalism, compared to about one-third who “strongly” or “somewhat” favor socialism.
asserted
who → have → socialism
But the election suggested that voters believe the government should use its heft to help reduce the cost of healthcare.
uncertain
government → suggest → healthcare
About 6 in 10 said they wanted the government to play a “bigger role” in addressing medical expenses.
asserted
government → say → expenses
Most voters said Trump’s policies have made healthcare costs worse.
asserted
costs → say → ?
Trump caught in a trap with voters
How voters felt about the overall economy generally depended on the size of their paychecks.
asserted
felt → catch → paychecks
While Trump campaigned on stats suggesting record low poverty, the working poor saw their own finances as crumbling.
asserted
poor → campaign → finances
For those earning less than $50,000 a year, about 6 in 10 said they were worse off now than they were two years ago before Trump became president.
asserted
Trump → earn → 50,000
People with higher incomes felt better about the economy, but that created a different problem for Trump.
asserted
that → feel → Trump
Higher-income voters were more concerned about the state of American democracy, and voters focused on democracy overwhelmingly broke for Democrats.
asserted
voters → focus → Democrats
Without congressional approval, Trump laid off thousands of federal workers, altered federal spending and imposed hundreds of billions of dollars in new tariffs that the Supreme Court earlier this year ruled were illegal.
asserted
Court → lay → tariffs
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
