Trump’s economic message faces major midterm test
Janelle King, co-chair of Let’s Win for America Action, dissects a recent Fox News poll revealing widespread economic dissatisfaction among voters. King explains that while President Trump highlights “Trump accounts” as long-term benefits, voters are feeling immediate financial heat. She also expresses concern over the surging far-left influence in key Midwest primaries, noting a shift towards emotional voting.
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Americans may not feel it in their wallets, but two major measures of economic well-being improved in 2025, as the nation’s poverty rate fell to a historic low and inflation-adjusted median household income reached a record high, according to new Census Bureau data.
In 2025, the poverty rate in the United States dropped to an all-time low of 10.2%, down roughly half a point from 2024, according to the Census Bureau. Even as the proportion of people living in undesirable conditions declines, however, the percentage of people who told Fox News pollsters that their personal financial situation was worsening or not changing held steady at around 85% for the duration of 2025.
Many have attributed President Donald Trump’s unpopularity, which some conservatives fear could cost the GOP control of Congress in November, to his economic policies. Amid Republican unpopularity and consumer pessimism, even states that are usually reliably conservative, like Texas, Ohio and Alaska, could very well send Democrats to the Senate.
FOX NEWS POLL: MOST RATE THE ECONOMY NEGATIVELY, INCLUDING HALF OF REPUBLICANS
President Donald Trump holds a chart on household income in the Oval Office of the White House in Washigton, Aug. 7, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Census Bureau defines poverty depending on the number of people in a given household and their income. A family with two adults and two children, for instance, would need to make less than $32,649 a year to be considered impoverished. The threshold for poverty increases as inflation lowers the value of the dollar.
Median household income also reached an all-time high, growing by 2.6% to $87,460 in 2025. That gain, however, is erased by inflation as the dollar’s value declined by about 3% between 2024 and 2025.
A number of factors could explain the gap between economic perception and improving macroeconomic indicators.
“See a lot of mutuals on here in DC, New York, LA talking about high prices. Meanwhile folks I know in Alabama, Indiana, Georgia getting new jobs, raises, or expanding and growing,” Andrew Beck, a partner at the consulting firm Beck and Stone, wrote on X. “Doesn’t help young folks in the blue states, but the South is booming.”
THE RED STATES CHARGING AHEAD WITH AMERICA’S WEALTH AS RIVALS WATCH BILLIONS SLIP AWAY
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 07: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on the jobs report from the Oval Office at the White House on March 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate rising slightly to 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Economic growth in Southern states has consistently outpaced that of the United States at large, spurred by internal migration and friendly business environments incentivizing large enterprises to move south.
High gas prices, sparked by the president’s military operations in the Middle East, and price increases attributable to tariffs have also proven unpopular, hurting the president’s approval ratings even as poverty rates dip and incomes climb. Roughly two-thirds of voters in a recent Fox News poll said that they believe the Trump administration is making the economy worse.
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Lower taxes, cheaper housing and affordability concerns have helped fuel population growth across many Southern and Sun Belt states, Census Bureau estimates show. (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis/Getty Images)
Conservatives on social media have used the Census Bureau’s data to take a victory lap.
“Poverty is bad. Every American should celebrate poverty rates are now the lowest on record. Good job everyone,” Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-WA, wrote on X. “Keep it going.”
“Good news we can all celebrate,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, a critic of the president, posted.
The number of people without health insurance also remained near historic lows, according to the Census Bureau.
Some on the left, however, deny that poverty rates are actually declining.
“Our elites terrorize the entire world while ordinary Americans continue to foot the bill. We spent trillions ‘fighting’ the terror we created to provide cover for our oil barons stealing 3rd World resources,” Twitch streamer Hasan Piker wrote on X Thursday. “It only amounted to more death overseas, more poverty at home. All while the [military industrial complex] ballooned. No houses, no hospitals, no schools-just a growing crisis of homelessness, underemployment and diseases of despair in the wealthiest country on earth.”
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Even as Americans have gotten wealthier over the past few decades, the price of housing has significantly outpaced wage growth. With personal homeownership holding strong cultural importance to Americans, rising home costs fuel pessimism in ways that improvements in other areas can’t necessarily offset.