Americans are firing up their grills this Memorial Day weekend under the weight of mounting financial strain, with new polling showing a broad cross-section of voters changing how they shop, blaming President Trump for higher costs, and souring on the economy at rates not seen in years.

A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents told CNN pollsters they had altered their grocery store purchases in recent months to stay within budget. 59 percent of Americans said they had cut back on extras and entertainment.
More than three-quarters of Americans, including 55 percent of Republicans, said Trump’s policies had driven up the cost of living in their communities.

The discontent is bipartisan and deepening. Nearly half of voters rated the economy “poor” in the latest New York Times/Siena College survey, an 11-point jump since January. Gallup reported this week that economic confidence has sunk to a four-year low.

Gas prices have climbed alongside grocery bills. The national average for a gallon of regular hit $4.56 ahead of Memorial Day, according to AAA, the highest level for the holiday in four years and $1.38 above where it stood a year ago. The auto club tied the surge to the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has kept crude oil hovering around $100 a barrel.

Nearly 80 percent of voters — a majority of Republicans among them — said the Trump administration bears responsibility for the price spike, according to a Fox News poll released this month. Large majorities also faulted oil companies, the war in Iran and government regulations.

The Fox survey found 57 percent of voters saying Mr. Trump’s policies have hurt the country, up from 51 percent who said the same a year earlier.

The shift in consumer behavior has been swift. Shoppers across party lines described trading down to cheaper brands, skipping nonessentials and pulling back on dining out and weekend outings — the kind of belt-tightening that economists watch as a leading signal of softening demand.

For the White House, the polling lands at an inopportune moment. Memorial Day traditionally opens the summer travel season, and the combination of record holiday traffic and four-year-high pump prices has put the cost of living squarely in front of voters as the midterm election cycle gets underway.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)