By Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw
MOUNT POCONO, Pennsylvania, Dec 9 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump was set to headline a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday to defend his economic record and try to counter voter anxiety over rising costs, as Republicans brace for a tough fight to hold control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
The campaign-style rally at a Mount Pocono casino in northeastern Pennsylvania will spotlight lower gasoline and egg prices and tax cuts passed this year. Trump will cast his tariff hikes and regulatory rollbacks as part of a broader effort to “rewire” the U.S. economy, a White House official said.
The president, in an excerpt from an interview with Politico released on Tuesday, was asked what grade he would give the economy. “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” he replied.
VOTER ANGST OVER PRICES
Nevertheless, the White House is grappling with voter angst about the economy, a vulnerability Democrats exploited in recent state and local election victories. Inflation has eased from recent highs, but many voters remain uneasy about housing, food, healthcare and childcare costs.
Trump, who campaigned in 2024 on a pledge to lower consumer prices, has grown frustrated that affordability concerns are dominating the political conversation.
“There’s this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about – affordability,” Trump complained at a cabinet meeting last week. “They just say the word. It doesn’t mean anything to anybody.”
He reinforced the message at a White House event on Monday, saying, “The Democrats caused the affordability problem. We’re the ones fixing it.”
The rally will take place in Pennsylvania’s 8th District, a politically competitive area that Republicans see as critical to maintaining their slim majorities in Congress in 2026. Trump and his cabinet plan more such campaign-style events around the country early next year.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsmax’s “Wake Up America” program on Tuesday that Trump’s moves to cut taxes, ease regulations and boost energy production policies would ease the cost of living for Americans and create more jobs.
“It is working. It takes time,” Leavitt said, adding that Trump would be “going around the country, touting his accomplishments and reassuring the American public that yes, the best is yet to come.”
ECONOMIC RELIEF SLOW TO LAND
Trump’s approval rating edged up to 41% in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll as he rolled back some tariffs on food imports and spoke more about combating inflation. But his approval rating on his performance on the cost of living was just 31%, although that marked an increase from 26% in late November.
While Trump has been quick to point to declines in egg and gasoline prices from recent peaks, prices are rising for other key items, including nearly 15% for beef, 7% for bananas and more than 20% for coffee, according to recent government data.
Gasoline has been down 30 to 50 cents a gallon at times this year compared to 2024, but the current price is now just a few cents less.
A White House official said drug-price reductions secured by the Trump administration and a new executive order targeting alleged price-fixing in the food supply chain should help alleviate price pressures.
Ahead of Trump’s event, several local residents at the casino expressed frustration over the cost of groceries and other staples.
“Prices are up 20 to 30 percent under Trump,” said Robert Stewart, 70, who described himself as an independent. Stewart, who was at the casino to gamble, criticized the president’s trade policies and his threats to slash federal nutrition benefits.
“Trump is totally in this thing just for himself, and it’s a shame,” he said, adding that he won’t vote for any Republican tied to Trump in the midterms.
Bob Guarini, 56, a Republican attending the rally, said his community was “feeling the pain” from high prices. Still, he thought Trump’s policies were improving things.
“He has to keep showing the progress that prices are going down,” Guarini said.
Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Eugene DePasquale said Trump faces deep skepticism among voters in the state he won in 2024 by nearly two percentage points.
“While Trump is desperately trying to sell his economic failures to the very people in northeastern Pennsylvania that he’s harming, Pennsylvanians know Trump’s chaotic tariffs and harmful policies are raising the costs of everything from groceries to healthcare bills,” he said.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw, writing by Andrea Shalal and James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Ross Colvin, Cynthia Osterman and Bill Berkrot)
