As Inflation Goes Up, New Poll Shows 4 in 10 Struggle to Pay Basic Necessities

Por Chris Walker — Truthout

The latest Consumer Price Index report shows that inflation has gone up 3.7 percent over the past year.

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The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows inflation has increased over the past month (and the year overall), as millions of Americans say they are struggling to make ends meet or pay for basic necessities.

According to the CPI report, which was published on Wednesday, consumer prices shot up by 0.6 percent from August to September. Year-over-year prices have increased by 3.7 percent.

That yearly rate is higher than previous reports in 2026. On average, the annual inflation rate, which is included in each monthly report, has been around 3.3 percent since the start of the year. The latest CPI numbers are also higher than they were immediately before Trump returned to the White House in 2025 — according to the December 2024 CPI, the inflation rate was 2.9 percent.

Costs for staple food items have increased over the past year, with ground beef prices up 5.4 percent, fruits and vegetables up 3.7 percent, bread up 3.3 percent, and fish/seafood up 6.9 percent. Energy costs are also markedly higher than they were last year, increasing by 10.9 percent overall, including a 21.5 percent increase in gas prices compared to September 2025.

Analysts largely attribute higher energy prices to Trump’s war against Iran, which began in late February and resulted in the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is normally transported. The week before the war began, gas prices across the U.S. averaged around $2.937 per gallon. As of Wednesday, prices are $4.333 per gallon on average, a 47 percent increase over the past seven months.

While prices for gasoline have been higher in the past, those increased costs were temporary. This week, the U.S. broke a record set in 2022 for the most days in a calendar year where average prices for regular gasoline have been above $4 per gallon: 158 days total since the start of 2026.

On gas costs, the Trump administration has promised throughout the war that higher prices would be short-lived.

“Rest assured, to the American people, the recent increase in oil and ​gas prices is temporary, and this operation will result in lower gas prices in the long term,” former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in March.

Asked by reporters about continuing high costs for fuel, Trump said in April that “gas will go down” and will “drop like a rock” as soon as the war is over. In June, he made a similar statement on Truth Social, writing that “Gas prices will plummet, and Affordability will be far better” than in the Biden years.

Earlier this week, Trump appeared to ignore entirely the fact that most Americans are feeling economic pinches, falsely stating during one of his campaign speeches that “prices are coming down very fast” right now.

The president promised on the 2024 presidential campaign trail to lower prices for groceries and other consumer goods, and to produce $2 per gallon gasoline shortly after entering office.

New polling demonstrates Americans are struggling, despite Trump’s rosy assessments.

According to a recently published Pew Research Center survey, 60 percent of Americans say they don’t have enough income to lead the life they desire. The poll also showed that 53 percent say they don’t have emergency savings that could help pay expenses for three months, and a third of respondents (32 percent) say they worry every day or almost every day about health care and debt costs.

Seventy percent of Americans have had to cut back their spending habits for “extras” — going out to eat or streaming services, for example. And 44 percent say they have had trouble paying for at least one basic necessity over the past year.

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This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms:

Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, based in Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on both national and local topics since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing the issues of the day and their impact on people. He can be found on most social media platforms under the handle @thatchriswalker.

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Fonte: Truthout