Inflation Complicates Trumps Midterms Pitch to Voters

With less than two months until the midterm elections, President Trump commenced a final push this week to preserve his Republican majority in Congress, arguing that the United States under G.O.P.control had brought prices “way, way down.”But for many families and businesses, the economy appeared to be on far shakier footing by Friday.

Fuel prices soared, mortgage costs climbed and inflation registered uncomfortably high, testing the public’s patience with Mr.Trump’s frequent assurances that the country is on the right track.The contrast underscored the political and economic stakes for Mr.

Trump, who may soon face the wrath of an electorate long spurned by promises in Washington to lower the cost of living.As November draws closer, prices have risen under the president’s leadership, driven largely by an agenda that has included two years of punishing trade brinkmanship and a prolonged war with Iran.The consequences were evident in the latest gauge of the Consumer Price Index, released on Friday.

The report showed that prices rose at an annual pace of 3.4 percent in August, which increased the odds of the Federal Reserve’s raising interest rates next week.The data came on the same day that a separate, long-running survey from the University of Michigan found that consumer sentiment dropped sharply this month.In that report, Americans expressed new worries that the economy was sputtering, and that inflation would continue to rise.The unease set the stage for Mr.

Trump’s renewed push this week to make the case to voters that he has helped, not hurt, the economy.Over two days of speeches at his party’s midterm convention in Dallas, the president labored to convince Americans that Republicans had achieved “tremendous economic success.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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