“President Trump, who promised to use his business savvy to bring down everyday costs, is facing discontent over his handling of the economy and inflation. Democrats see an opportunity.
Tuesday's elections for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, and for mayor in New York City, will test whether Trump's low economic ratings can help Democrats make the case that they have the better plans to lower the cost of living.
Affordability has become a central theme for Democrats not only in the three marquee races on Tuesday but among the party's candidates across the country as contests take shape ahead of next year's House and Senate elections. The Democratic Party, struggling with its weakest brand image in decades, is hoping the issue can propel them to electoral victory and bridge the deep divides on policy between liberals and centrists.
Democrats sense the issue could help them rebuild their credibility because there are signs that voters no longer give Trump the high trust he once earned during the booming, pre-Covid economy of his first term. By 24 points, more voters disapprove than approve of Trump's handling of inflation, the Real Clear Politics average of public polls finds, and the deficit is 14 points on his handling of the economy overall.
"Affordability has become the No. 1 issue for Democrats, which includes the state of the economy and healthcare," said Jim Kessler, an executive vice president at the centrist Democratic group Third Way.
In Virginia's election for governor, Democrat Abigail Spanberger's campaign rests in large part on her "Affordable Virginia" agenda, which promises to rein in pharmaceutical middlemen and streamline permitting for certain home construction. Rising utility rates, a top issue in New Jersey, prompted Democrat Mikie Sherrill to put a promise to freeze rates at the center of her campaign for governor, though it is unclear that she would have the power to fully follow through.
And in New York, mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani has promised free child care through age 5, free city buses and a freeze on rents for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments, among other affordability proposals.
Their rivals in the three races have their own proposals. New Jersey Republican Jack Ciattarelli has promised to cap property taxes and end green-energy rules that he says have raised utility costs. Andrew Cuomo, an independent candidate who is Mamdani's closest rival, would raise the city's minimum wage and bar higher-income residents from moving into rent-stabilized apartments.
The Democrats' focus marks a change from 2024 and earlier years, when the party's attacks on Trump focused largely on his challenge to democratic norms and abortion rights. While many polls, including those by The Wall Street Journal, find that Trump's overall job approval rating has never topped 50% as president, his standing was buoyed in his first term by positive ratings on the economy. This year, by contrast, voters give Trump lower marks for handling the economy than for his overall job performance.
Republicans, more broadly, may now be surrendering another advantage. While voters have disapproved of Trump's economic stewardship, polling through much of this year showed that they nonetheless trusted his party more than the Democratic Party to manage the economy.
An NBC survey released Sunday found voters trusting the GOP over Democrats by only a single percentage point, down from a 21-point advantage at about this point in 2023. A Gallup survey published in late October found a 4-point lead for Democrats as the party best able to keep the country prosperous. Republicans had led by 14 points in 2023.
Some pollsters and analysts caution Democrats shouldn't read too much into the shift. "It's hard to say that this shift has much of anything to do with what Democrats are doing," said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of the NBC poll, which he helped conduct.
The shift is "much more of a reaction to deep dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's inability to bring costs down," he said.” [1]
1. U.S. News: Democrats Pin Hopes on Affordability. Zitner, Aaron. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Nov 2025: A4.
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