Cannon: Better Inflation Stats Don’t Matter to Voters if Everything Still Feels Twice as Expensive
Carl Cannon warned that modest reductions in the inflation rate might not be enough for President Trump and Republicans to credibly claim an economic recovery going into the 2026 midterm elections, Friday on the RCP podcast:
CARL CANNON: There’s a place I go to get pizza. It used to be $ 16 five years ago. It’s all but doubled now, when you add taxes and tips. It’s doubled in five years! People think it’s “3% inflation,” but it’s cumulative. If something’s doubled, Americans ask: This costs twice what it cost five or six years ago? My salary hasn’t doubled.” My salary hasn’t doubled — maybe it’s a little more. That’s the problem. And for Trump to say it’s a hoax-yeah, we’ve been through that. You asked earlier: what’s the point at which not just Trump’s rhetoric, but the numbers have to change? When inflation truly comes down, wages go up-when Americans feel the economy is better. June? I remember when George H.W. Bush was president and running for re-election. There had been a recession. Then the economic numbers came out-they were fabulous. The recession was over. Bush said in September, I’d like to see the Washington Post spin this. Well, they did. But the point was: It didn’t matter by then. People had decided about George H.W. Bush: He doesn’t get what we’re going through. My point here is: If people have already decided, it won’t matter what the economic numbers are. They can keep getting better, but if Americans say This guy just doesn’t get what we’re going through, that’s a problem for an incumbent and his party-and has been for years.
