BEDMINSTER, New Jersey, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Two years after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump staged a New Jersey press conference flanked by grocery staples to spotlight inflation under Democrats, food prices are still rising despite his pledge to bring them down. The gap between promise and reality now looms as a vulnerability for Republicans ahead of November's midterm elections.
Standing between tables piled high with fruit, beef, cereal, milk and other household staples at his Bedminster golf club on August 15, 2024, Trump blamed the Biden administration for sharp increases in groceries. The spectacle, complete with charts showing higher prices, was aimed at undercutting the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, and highlighted Trump's central promise: he alone could tame inflation and lower the cost of living.
Two years on, higher gasoline and grocery prices are squeezing household budgets and turning the cost of living into the top issue for American voters. Voters now give Democrats a slight edge over Republicans in who they view as better stewards of the economy for the first time in nearly a decade, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
Sheila Carney, a 68-year-old Trump voter, punctuated her frustration with an expletive as she unloaded $70 worth of groceries into her car outside a supermarket not far from Trump's Bedminster club. The haul was modest: some meat, detergent and a 12-pack of iced tea.
For Carney, the receipt was evidence that the affordability concerns Trump has sometimes dismissed as a Democratic "hoax" remain a daily burden for many Americans.
"This is real. He can say it's not, but it is," said Carney, a hospital administration assistant who has delayed retirement while helping pay off her son's student loans. "He hasn't brought anything down."
A Reuters analysis of 26 grocery categories tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and featured in Trump’s Bedminster display found prices have risen 3.4% in the first 19 months of his second term.
That’s less than a quarter of the pace recorded at the same point in former President Joe Biden’s term, but still falls short of Trump’s pledge to lower prices, as surges in coffee, beef and apples have more than offset declines in items including eggs and butter.
A White House official pointed to data on Wednesday that showed U.S. consumer prices barely increased in July from the month before as evidence that inflation is under control.
"The July CPI report is further proof that President Trump’s long-term agenda is delivering: prescription drug and auto insurance costs continue to fall, real wages are rising, and beef prices have cooled while other household essentials like eggs, poultry, and dairy remain low," the official said.
A registered Republican, Carney said high grocery and gasoline prices due to the Iran war were among the reasons she had grown disillusioned enough to consider sitting out the midterms, underscoring recent polling suggesting Republicans are less enthusiastic about voting than Democrats.
Carney was one of 17 Republicans and independents Reuters interviewed in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, a battleground that includes Bedminster and where swing voters and turnout could prove decisive. The race pits Republican incumbent Tom Kean against Democrat Rebecca Bennett, who has sought to capitalize on voters' frustration over the cost of living.
