Trump Administration Faces Backlash Over Cost of Living

The economic record of Donald Trump is under scrutiny following a jobs report that added over 265,000 positions and set the unemployment rate at 4.7%. Administration supporters and former advisers credit tax cuts, deregulation, and domestic energy production for a construction boom, recovering manufacturing, and record-high stock market indexes.

However, these gains contrast with polling showing 70% of Americans disapprove of the administration's handling of the cost of living. In Ohio, some long-term supporters expressed buyer's remorse as rising grocery and energy prices outpaced stagnant real wages.

Critics and analysts describe a mixed record of high investment paired with persistent inflation. The Center for American Progress and economist Paul Krugman have warned that the administration's agenda has generated stagflation, characterized by slower growth and faster inflation.