President Donlad Trump's claims about his work to make things more affordable may be clashing with prices currently rising in different sectors. CBS News' Fin Gómez reports.

Washington

President Trump has been promoting his administration's record on affordability, asserting that his policies have lowered prices and improved economic conditions. However, recent polling, including a Fox News survey, shows that 76% of voters view the economy negatively and largely blame Trump for current economic issues, with his approval ratings on the economy reaching new lows even among core supporters.

The administration faces further scrutiny as voters report rising costs in groceries, utilities, health care, and housing. Despite these challenges, Trump officials express confidence that economic conditions will improve in the coming year. Meanwhile, Trump is scheduled to meet with New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani to discuss affordability, though the meeting is expected to be contentious given their political differences.

Are Americans buying Trump's affordability claims?

The Democrats like to use the word affordability, but their affordability was terrible. The problem with the Democrats, they lie. They do it so well. They talk about affordability. But I'm the one that's getting the prices down. All I want is I want for people to recognize a great job that I've done on pricing, on affordability. And affordable is, should be our word, not theirs, because the Democrats got up and talked about affordability, affordability. And they don't say that they had the worst inflation in history. And as we just showed you, in recent days, President Trump has been trying to sell his administration's success on the issue of affordability. But here's a question. Are Americans buying it? Let's see what CBS News political director Finn Gomez has to say. Finn, good morning. So what are Americans saying about how President Trump is handling the economy? Right. And Michael, I think that message on affordability may not be registering with many Americans. According to a new Fox News poll that came out this week, some 76 percent of voters view the economy poorly. Voters blame the president, according to this new poll. About twice as many say President Trump, rather than former President Joe Biden, is responsible for the current state of the economy. Approval of how Trump is handling the economy hit a new low, and disapproval of his overall job performance hit record highs among core supporters. Trump's job performance drew career-high disapproval ratings among men, white voters and those without a college degree. Voters say the White House is doing more harm than good on the economy. Forty-six percent say they've been hurt by the administration's economic policies. That's worse than the 67 percent who felt that way back in July and the 70 percent who said the same thing at the end of former President Biden's term. Overall, voters, including those Republicans, say their costs for groceries, utilities, health care and housing affordability, Michael, have gone up this year. This is one of several polls, including our own CBS poll earlier this month, that showed the president is underwater on the economy and affordability. Speaking with some top Republicans this week, several expressed some apprehension about these numbers on the key issue, on this key issue, as they head into the midterm cycle, with Republicans defending a razor-thin majority in the House. Trump officials have said they feel confident the economy will grow and prices will start easing in Q1 of next year. According to a recent report in Axios, Trump will then declare victory in that early part of next year on rescuing the economy and their efforts to improve affordability, and will warn that a Democratic Congress will pull America back to the Biden economy days. The Trump political machine, Michael, also has a ton of money, about $1 billion approximately. So they feel confident they can turn that around. And again, we're less than a year away now to the midterm elections, 346 days, Michael. Well, Finn, speaking of affordability, the big topic on the agenda today as President Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani is affordability. But there's no love lost between those two. Is this expected to be a productive meeting? Well, there's a sense that this high-stakes meeting could, frankly, go either way. Trump and Mamdani have lashed out at each other during the bitter New York City mayoral race. As you know, Michael, Trump even called Mamdani a communist repeatedly, including in announcing this meeting. He isn't. He's a Democratic socialist. Mamdani did not really focus his successful campaign on opposing Trump. It was part of it. But he notably pushed back against the president on the trail. And if you remember, he called out Trump during his victory speech emphatically. So there is a hope, though, that cooler heads will prevail here and they can find common ground on an issue that both ran and won on in their respective races, affordability. One Republican, however, said it could turn into a Zelensky-style meeting, referencing that acrimonious meeting, if you remember, Michael, between the president and vice president of Ukraine, President Vance, and the Ukrainian leader earlier this year. But one thing to remember, as of now, that meeting is closed press. So we'll see if that opens up. But there's been a lot of attention on this meeting, Michael. And we'll have to watch and wait and see. Finn Gomez, thank you for joining us.

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