{"id":4685,"date":"2025-12-17T02:01:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/trump-served-mcdonalds-to-connect-with-voters-now-many-feel-they-cant-afford-it\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T02:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:01:55","slug":"trump-served-mcdonalds-to-connect-with-voters-now-many-feel-they-cant-afford-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/trump-served-mcdonalds-to-connect-with-voters-now-many-feel-they-cant-afford-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump served McDonald’s to connect with voters. Now, many feel they can’t afford it."},"content":{"rendered":"

FEASTERVILLE, Pa. \u2014 Fishing through his wallet, David Teeling pulls out a wrinkled newspaper clip showing Donald Trump working the drive-thru of a local McDonald’s \u2014 this<\/em> McDonald\u2019s, the very same one where he and a few friends routinely meet to talk politics and sports.<\/p>\n

Teeling keeps the picture as verifiable proof for those who don\u2019t believe him when he explains what happened: The once and future president turned up in suburban Philadelphia toward the end of the 2024 campaign and scooped French fries for the customers pulling up to the window.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cSome people believe me and some don\u2019t, so I keep that,\u201d says Teeling, 70, over a cup of coffee.<\/p>\n

A year ago, Trump visited this site to make the point that he was attuned to everyday people who felt overlooked in the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris economy.<\/p>\n

These days, it\u2019s Trump who\u2019s in danger of appearing out of touch. Ahead of midterm elections next year, voters are feeling squeezed by high prices and blaming Trump for not doing enough to ease the cost of living, polling shows.<\/p>\n

A new NBC News Decision Desk survey<\/a> shows that 53% of adults have changed their grocery-buying habits to stay within budget, while 55% have cut back on entertainment and \u201cextras\u201d so that they can afford life\u2019s necessities.<\/p>\n

A sampling of grocery prices shows the price of eggs has dropped 29% since Trump was sworn in, though beef prices are up nearly 13%, chicken prices are up 2% and bread is up 4%. Orange juice prices have climbed 28% since the start of Trump’s term, according to Nieslen IQ data in the NBC News grocery price tracker.<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall, an AP-NORC poll<\/a> found that just 31% of adults approved of Trump\u2019s handling of the economy, the lowest rating he\u2019s notched in either his first or second term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can improve those numbers,\u201d John McLaughlin, a Trump pollster, said in an interview. \u201cWe did it in 2023 and 2024 and we can do it again. In an election year, Trump will be able to spend more time with voters outside the Beltway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White House doesn\u2019t have a choice but to have President Trump campaign in the midterm elections,\u201d McLaughlin added. \u201cWithout Trump on the ballot, it\u2019s hard to get his voters to turn out. If you can\u2019t motivate the Trump voters, we\u2019re not going to win in the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House seems to agree. Susie Wiles, Trump\u2019s chief of staff, said in a podcast interview<\/a> that the idea is to put Trump \u201con the ballot” by having him campaign as if it\u2019s 2024 all over again.<\/p>\n

For Trump, the question is whether he can muster the discipline to consistently deliver a two-part message. He needs to show he grasps that people are struggling while also hammering the point that he\u2019s committed to making their lives better, political strategists say. That\u2019s a tricky balance requiring some humility on Trump\u2019s part, a recognition that \u201cthe golden age\u201d he promised at the start of his term is still unrealized.<\/p>\n

Thus far, Trump blames lingering inflation on Biden,<\/a> a bogeyman he continues to bash even as the economy bears his imprint with each passing day. He says there is much for voters to cheer, including gas prices,<\/a> which have fallen from $3.03 a gallon one year ago to $2.92 now; the stock market, where the S&P 500 index is up 16% this year; and new foreign investment in the U.S. totaling trillions of dollars.<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the affordability issue, he calls it a “hoax” <\/a>perpetrated by Democrats.<\/p>\n

On his social media site last week, Trump wrote that \u201caffordability, just 13 months ago, was a disaster for the American people, but now, it\u2019s totally different! Prices are coming down fast.”<\/p>\n

Still, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week<\/a> that Trump\u2019s tariffs are pushing inflation higher than the rate would be otherwise. After falling to a low this year of 2.3% in April, inflation rose to 3% in September for the first time since January. September was the last month data was available.<\/p>\n

Even members of Trump\u2019s own party<\/a> have said that prices are too high and Republicans can’t ignore them. \u201cPeople aren\u2019t dumb. They know when they go to the grocery store what it costs and what it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told NBC News last week.<\/p>\n

Michael DuHaime, former political director at the Republican National Committee, put it this way: “You can continue to talk about Biden or even Obama or Jimmy Carter if you want. The voters will only tolerate it for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Past presidents faced a similar conundrum, with uneven results. No sitting president wants to concede that their economic policies haven\u2019t delivered. Yet a president risks appearing callous by denying what\u2019s obvious to people who can\u2019t afford to buy ground beef at the supermarket. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the mistakes we made as part of the Biden team was not leading with more empathy,\u201d Sam Cornale, former CEO of the Democratic National Committee, said in an interview. \u201cWe jumped right into trying to explain away the numbers, but voters weren\u2019t feeling it.\u201d<\/p>\n

An early look at Trump’s midterm campaign message unfolded last week when he traveled to a casino resort in the Poconos for a rally <\/a>devoted to the economy. He showed slides and talked up his record, saying his tariffs are sparking a wave of AI, auto and other types of factory construction. <\/p>\n

But true to form, he also veered off topic, trashing Biden, Powell, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, windmills and the African nation of Somalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a little behind the 8-ball going into the 2026 election,\u201d said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster, in an interview. \u201cThe bottom line on the Republican side is we need to focus on what voters are most concerned about: the economy and the cost of living,” he said, adding that people don’t care “what happens in Somalia or the Middle East or other places. For the most part, they\u2019re focused on their pocketbooks. So that\u2019s what we need to be focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back at McDonald\u2019s, there is no sign that Trump once <\/strong>traded his suit jacket for an apron in one of his most memorable campaign stops. In the wake of Trump’s visit, Yelp disabled its reviews<\/a> of the restaurant because of caustic write-ups.<\/p>\n

On occasion, customers will take pictures of the drive-thru window where Trump made his appearance. The staff has turned over since that time; none of the employees at work on a recent weekday were there when Trump showed up. <\/p>\n

As a company, McDonald’s has faced pressures from what its CEO called a “two-tier economy.” <\/a>A steep drop in traffic from lower-income customers played a part in the company’s decision to revive its “Extra Value Meal” combos this fall, according to chief executive Chris Kempczinski.<\/p>\n

Teeling said he\u2019s prepared to be patient while Trump\u2019s economic policies kick in. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt has gone up,\u201d he said of the cost of living. \u201cNo question about that. But Trump is a CEO. He can turn these things around. It\u2019s going to take a year, maybe two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janice Hall, 72, a retired Philadelphia city employee who was eating a cheeseburger and French fries, agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to slowly go down,\u201d she said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t given it any time yet. It\u2019s not even been a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she\u2019d vote for Trump again if she could.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s funny; he\u2019s hysterical. He has a personality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

William Sanginiti, 72, a retired engineer, said over a hamburger and a Coke: \u201cThere\u2019s always someone who\u2019s going to complain about something. I\u2019m not. I try to live within my means.\u201d<\/p>\n

A dissenting note came from one of the regulars. Drinking a coffee, a 76-year-old retired truck driver said he doubts Trump will succeed in reducing prices. He said he\u2019s had to alter his spending habits to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to eat a lot of beef; I can\u2019t afford that,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. \u201cEven when I see reduced prices at different supermarkets, they\u2019re still on the expensive side.\u201d<\/p>\n

He mentioned the unemployment rate, which stood at 4.4%<\/a> in September, the highest it has been in the last four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the people who voted for him, they didn\u2019t vote for the layoffs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FEASTERVILLE, Pa. \u2014 Fishing through his wallet, David Teeling pulls out a wrinkled newspaper clip showing Donald Trump working the drive-thru of a local McDonald’s \u2014 this McDonald\u2019s, the very same one where he and a few friends routinely meet to talk politics and sports. Teeling keeps the picture as verifiable proof for those who <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}