Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ economy pitch fizzles with midterm voters

For most of his second term, President Donald Trump has been arguing that the “golden age” he promised for America’s economy is already here.

There’s hardly been much evidence that voters agreed.

Now, with midterm elections less than three months away and campaigning poised to get underway in earnest, the gap has become impossible to ignore.

And there are signs that’s weighing on Trump’s Republican Party as it fights to retain control of Congress.

The president’s rosy view is running into anxiety about the cost of living and fallout from the war in Iran.

Inside the White House, there’s broad confidence that the administration has a record to run on, one the president will likely be hammering from here to November.

But other Republicans, including some people close to the president, are concerned that won’t be enough, especially for candidates running in competitive races.

They want him to offer fresh economic plans, such as further tax cuts expanding on last year’s major law that’s central to the GOP economic pitch.

Whether he changes course or not, the current environment represents a reckoning for Trump, who relied on the economy as key political strength during his first term.

Now, it’s shaping up as a significant liability.

The economic data itself offers a mixed picture.

Unemployment is low, American consumers are buying plenty of stuff, and there are signs of a manufacturing revival.

But inflation has been back above 3% — the level when Trump took office — since the president went to war with Iran alongside Israel in late February.

Voters are laser-focused on the cost of living, as they’ve been ever since prices skyrocketed under former President Joe Biden and helped Trump win back the White House.