2026-08-15T10:10:44.742Z / reuters.com
新泽西州贝德明斯特8月15日路透电 —— 两年前，共和党总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普在新泽西州举行新闻发布会，身旁摆满日用杂货，以此抨击民主党治下的通胀问题。如今尽管他曾承诺平抑物价，但食品价格仍在上涨。承诺与现实之间的落差，如今成了共和党在11月中期选举前的一大软肋。
2024年8月15日，特朗普在他位于贝德明斯特的高尔夫俱乐部站在堆满水果、牛肉、麦片、牛奶和其他日用杂货的桌子之间，指责拜登政府导致食品价格大幅上涨。这场搭配着展示涨价图表的造势活动，旨在削弱民主党候选人卡玛拉·哈里斯的选情，同时凸显特朗普的核心承诺：唯有他能驯服通胀、降低生活成本。
两年过去，居高不下的汽油和食品价格正挤压美国家庭预算，生活成本也成为美国选民最关心的议题。路透社与益普索的民调显示，选民如今认为民主党在经济治理上略胜共和党，这是近十年来的首次。
68岁的特朗普选民希拉·卡尼在特朗普贝德明斯特俱乐部附近一家超市外，将价值70美元的杂货搬上车时，用一句脏话发泄了自己的不满。她买的东西并不多：一些肉、洗涤剂和一打冰茶。
对卡尼来说，购物小票证明，特朗普有时会将民众对负担能力的担忧斥为民主党“骗局”，但这种担忧仍是许多美国人日常的负担。
“这是真实存在的。他可以说不是，但事实就是如此，”卡尼说，她是一名医院行政助理，原本计划退休，如今却推迟了退休计划，还要帮儿子偿还学生贷款。“他什么都没降下来。”
路透社对美国劳工统计局追踪的26类食品进行了分析，这些品类也是特朗普在贝德明斯特展示会上的主打商品。数据显示，在特朗普第二任期的前19个月，这些食品价格上涨了3.4%。
这一涨幅仅为前总统乔·拜登任期同期的四分之一，但仍未达到特朗普平抑物价的承诺。咖啡、牛肉和苹果的价格大幅上涨，抵消了鸡蛋和黄油等商品的降价幅度。
一名白宫官员周三援引数据称，美国7月消费者价格环比几乎没有上涨，证明通胀已得到控制。
“7月消费者物价指数报告进一步证明，特朗普总统的长期议程正在见效：处方药和汽车保险成本持续下降，实际工资不断上涨，牛肉价格有所回落，而鸡蛋、家禽和乳制品等其他日用必需品价格仍处于低位，”这名官员说。
热情不足
作为注册共和党选民，卡尼表示，伊朗冲突导致的高食品和汽油价格，是她幻想破灭、甚至考虑不参加中期选举的原因之一。这也印证了近期民调结果：共和党选民的投票热情低于民主党选民。
卡尼是路透社在新泽西州第七国会选区采访的17名共和党人和独立选民之一。该选区是兵家必争之地，涵盖贝德明斯特，摇摆选民和投票率或将成为选举胜负的关键。这场选举是共和党现任议员汤姆·基恩对阵民主党候选人丽贝卡·贝内特，贝内特一直在利用选民对生活成本的不满造势。
超过一半的受访者表示，他们要么尚未决定投票意向，要么倾向于支持贝内特。除食品价格外，许多选民还批评基恩今年早些时候长达数月未公开露面，他后来将此归因于抑郁症。
他们对经济的看法，与路透社近几个月采访的其他特朗普支持者一致：尽管仍支持总统，但财务压力削弱了他们11月投票的热情。这种矛盾心态给共和党带来了另一重潜在挑战，也提升了该党动员投票行动的重要性。
加州大学伯克利分校公共政策教授弗朗西斯科·特雷比近期共同发表的一项研究发现，在通胀增速超过收入增长的县，特朗普在2024年选举中获得了更强的支持，这侵蚀了美国家庭的购买力。
特雷比表示，由于实际工资仅小幅上涨，且落后于整体经济增长速度，这种情况可能会在11月出现反转。
“我预计2026年将出现同样的反现任党派投票浪潮，这一次可能会削弱共和党的支持率，”他称购物是“心理上显著”的家庭财务压力提醒。“每次购物，都相当于一则反对现任党派的竞选广告。”
特朗普支持者的态度
诚然，总统对通胀的影响力有限，通胀由多种因素驱动，美联储才是更直接的调控主体。尽管特朗普的关税政策和伊朗冲突推高了物价，但许多共和党人似乎仍愿意相信特朗普。
64岁的邦妮·钱德勒计划投票给基恩，她说她认为一些企业故意抬高价格，让特朗普难堪，而民主党进步派势力的壮大让她不愿考虑民主党候选人。
“我会投共和党。我不是觉醒派，不是共产主义者，也不是社会主义者，”她说。
34岁的特朗普支持者劳伦·德吉罗拉莫表示，教育和边境安全等议题对她来说比食品价格更重要。她认为，在拜登政府期间食品价格大幅上涨后，特朗普执政下食品价格已趋于稳定。
“我觉得食品价格基本和拜登时期持平。我关注的一些关键商品——比如鸡蛋——价格已经下降了，”她说，并补充称她打算在11月为共和党候选人投票。
根据劳工统计局的数据，在特朗普任期内，鸡蛋价格下跌了近40%，这反映了拜登任期期间禽流感导致供应短缺、价格飙升后的市场回调。自2025年以来，26类食品中有6类价格出现下跌，其中包括黄油、培根、烹饪油脂。
然而，特朗普在贝德明斯特展示会上展出的大多数商品如今价格都更高了，有些涨幅还很大：生牛肉上涨19.2%，新鲜鱼类和海鲜上涨8.6%，苹果上涨14%，咖啡涨幅近23%。
贴近选民的议题
本月早些时候结束的路透社/益普索民调显示，特朗普在处理生活成本问题上的净支持率为-47%，低于其任期之初的-6%。这是他支持率最低的议题，远低于他在经济问题上的-35%和移民问题上的-16%。
贝内特告诉路透社，如果当选，她将撤销特朗普的关税政策、遏制伊朗冲突、恢复食品券福利，以帮助难以负担食品开支的家庭。
贝内特说，这个议题与选民息息相关。她是一名退伍军人，已婚，有两个女儿。“这对我来说不是抽象的概念，”她说。“比如，牛肉太贵了，所以我们现在不买牛肉了。”
基恩的竞选团队未回应置评请求，他能否保住席位可能取决于像玛格丽特·德尔卡奇这样的选民。德尔卡奇通常会投共和党，但现在如果经济状况没有改善，她正考虑改投其他党派。
“生活成本，包括住房、公寓和食品——这些生活必需品——都涨价了。这太令人震惊了，太震惊了，”84岁的德尔卡奇在折扣超市阿尔迪购物后说道。
尽管她说特朗普“从拜登手中接过了一个烂摊子”，但德尔卡奇补充道：“我现在还没决定。我得看看情况。”
Trump’s 2024 grocery photo op now haunts Republicans in the midterms
2026-08-15T10:10:44.742Z / reuters.com
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.
LACK OF ENTHUSIASM
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.
More than half of those interviewed said they were either undecided or leaning toward Bennett. While grocery prices weighed heavily on many voters, complaints about Kean more often centered on his months-long disappearance from public view earlier this year, which he later attributed to depression.
Their views on the economy mirror those of other Trump supporters Reuters has interviewed in recent months who, despite standing by the president, say financial pressures have dampened their enthusiasm for voting in November. That ambivalence presents another potential challenge for Republicans and raises the stakes for the party’s get-out-the-vote operation.
Francesco Trebbi, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, recently co-authored research finding that Trump drew stronger support in the 2024 election in counties where inflation outpaced income growth, eroding households’ purchasing power.
With real wages rising only marginally and lagging the pace of broader economic growth, Trebbi said it is likely that pattern will reverse in November.
“I expect the same anti-incumbent shift to happen in 2026, this time possibly weakening Republicans,” he said, describing grocery shopping as a “psychologically salient” reminder of the squeeze on household finances. “Each time one does it, it is the equivalent of a campaign ad against the incumbent.”
TRUMP SUPPORT
To be sure, presidents have limited influence over inflation, which is driven by a range of factors and more directly addressed by the Federal Reserve. And many Republicans appear willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, even as his tariffs and the Iran war have contributed to rising prices.
Bonnie Chandler, 64, plans to vote for Kean, saying she believed some companies were keeping prices elevated to make Trump look bad and that the growing influence of the Democratic Party’s progressive faction left her unwilling to consider its candidates.
“I’m going to vote Republican. I’m not a woke person. I’m not a communist. I’m not a socialist,” she said.
Lauren DeGirolamo, a 34-year-old Trump voter, said issues such as education and border security mattered more to her than grocery prices, which she believes have stabilized under Trump following steep increases during the Biden administration.
“I feel grocery prices are pretty much at level with where they were during Biden. I know some of the key things that I look for – eggs – have gone down,” she said, adding that she intended to vote for Republican candidates in November.
According to BLS data, egg prices have fallen nearly 40% under Trump, reflecting a market correction after avian flu-driven shortages triggered a surge that began during Biden’s presidency. Eggs are among six of the 26 categories showing falls since 2025, along with butter, bacon, and cooking fats and oils.
Yet most of the items Trump displayed at Bedminster are now pricier, some by a lot. Uncooked beef has jumped 19.2%, fresh fish and seafood 8.6%, apples 14%, and coffee nearly 23%.
HITTING CLOSE TO HOME
A Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded earlier this month found Trump’s net approval rating on his handling of the cost of living was at -47%, down from -6% at the start of his term. It is his weakest issue by a wide margin, trailing his ratings on the economy (-35%) and immigration (-16%).
Bennett told Reuters that if elected she would seek to undo Trump’s tariffs, rein in the Iran war, and restore food stamp benefits to help families struggling to afford groceries.
The issue hits close to home, said Bennett, a military veteran and married mother of two daughters. “This is not an abstract concept to me,” she said. “For example, beef is very expensive, so we don’t buy beef anymore.”
Whether Kean, whose campaign did not respond to requests for comment, can hold on to his seat may depend on voters like Margaret Derkach, who typically votes Republican but is now considering switching her vote if economic conditions don’t improve.
“The cost of living, as far as homes, apartments and food – the necessities – they have gone up. It’s shocking, shocking,” said Derkach, 84, after shopping at discount grocer Aldi.
Though she said Trump “inherited a mess” from Biden, Derkach added, “I am undecided right now. I have to see.”
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