Veteran pollster Frank Luntz said President Donald Trump made a grave error by mocking people’s concerns about “affordability” during Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
Luntz, who has worked with high-profile GOP figures such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, criticized Trump for a moment during his 108-minute speech when he suggested Democrats were wrong to address the cost-of-living crisis.
While attacking former President Joe Biden, Democrats, and the “green new scam” for causing high inflation, Trump said the “same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word affordability—a word they just used, somebody gave it to them—knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure.”
“You caused that problem,” he added while gesturing at Democrats.
In a post on X, Luntz suggested that Trump’s decision to attack a phrase used to describe how tens of millions of Americans are still struggling financially was a “misstep” by the 79-year-old president.
“Mocking the word ‘affordability’ when Americans are still feeling the squeeze at the grocery store is the kind of moment that clips badly,” Luntz wrote.
“That’s the word Americans use. Don’t mock Americans.”
For months, Trump has tried to convince the American people that they are not struggling with affordability and that the economy is actually doing fine.
Trump has even suggested that the word “affordability” is a “hoax” orchestrated by Democrats rather than a legitimate concern.
“Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast, the roaring economy is roaring like never before,” Trump said during his Tuesday night address.
His repeated head-in-the-sand approach to the cost-of-living crisis and refusal to listen to voters’ concerns could have disastrous consequences for the GOP in November’s midterms, as the state of the economy consistently ranks as the top voter concern in every election.
On Sunday, an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 57 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy. Nearly half (48 percent) say the economy has gotten worse since Trump became president in January 2025, compared with just 29 percent who think it has improved.
During a speech in Rome, Georgia, last week, Trump complained that he has to listen to the “fake news talk about ‘affordability, affordability.’”
“What word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because I’ve won. I’ve won affordability,” he added.
While delivering the official Democratic response to Trump’s speech, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger asked Americans: “Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no.”
“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night,” Spanberger said. “Problems that dictate where you live, whether you can afford to start a business, or whether you have to skip a prescription in order to buy groceries.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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