A new survey has found that Americans are being squeezed by higher prices as they head into the holiday season, forcing them to cut back on gifts and delay purchases because of Donald Trump’s faltering economy.

The Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that a vast majority of U.S. adults have noticed increased prices for groceries, electricity, and holiday gifts in recent months. Roughly half say it is harder to afford presents, and similar numbers say they’re postponing big purchases or trimming nonessential spending more than usual.

Those bleak findings come as Trump has been downplaying concerns about the state of the economy, while simultaneously urging families to scale back on Christmas presents for their children. At a Pennsylvania event on Tuesday, he told supporters, “You can give up certain products,” citing “pencils” as an example before turning to children’s toys: “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter.

  • lennybird@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    All adults in our family agreed to not buy gifts. Just for kids. I’d rather save and not contribute to this already-shitty economy.

  • ninexe@sh.itjust.works
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    18 days ago

    Trump has a lot to do with it, but it’s not just him.

    This is the result of the working class not getting a fair return on its labor for decades. It’s only going to get worse until they fight back.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      18 days ago

      but it’s not just him.

      It’s also the oligarchs who support him as well as the various puppeteers who control him.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        And the majority of people who supported him, and the majority of voters who voted for him. Trump freaking won the popular vote!!!

        • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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          15 days ago

          Trump freaking won the popular vote!

          Assuming the claims of voter fraud (from both sides) are not true.

          Historically, the majority of election fraud that has been discovered has been in favor of the Republicans, so it’s reasonable to assume that if there was fraud in the recent election, it was similarly inflating Trump’s numbers.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            15 days ago

            That’s pearl clutching, because you want him to not have won by a majority vote.
            From the evidence we have he did, the rest is useless speculation.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      This is the result of the working class not getting a fair return on its labor for decades. It’s only going to get worse until they fight back.

      LOL Fight back, they’ve fucking supported this for 40 years…
      FIGHT BACK 🤣🤣🤣

      OK if at some point an American majority realize the stupidity of their ways for 40 years, I will absolutely celebrate.
      Of course some are very much aware and hate what has been going on, but unfortunately they are not the majority.

      Word of advice though, fighting back starts small, you can’t wait for the majority to fight, the momentum needs to be build by those who realize the problem.

  • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.works
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    18 days ago

    Trying not to think about the fact that Christmas is somehow 10 days away, my bare minimum student loan payment is 5 days away, but I don’t get paid again for another 15 days. Then rent is due the day after that, and it’s most of my paycheck, which pretty much immediately puts me back to where I am now, and groceries are somehow more and more expensive every time, and I get to ring in 2026 knowing best case scenario for the new year is that this neverending cycle continues once I get paid again at the end of January and repeat the same thing until 2027.

    But I also know how privileged we are just to have a few small things under the tree for my kid, not to mention having a roof over our heads, and not having to worry about Nazis trying to kidnap my family members and split us apart every time we risk stepping outside, or being murdered in drone strikes that suddenly rain down from above from out of nowhere for absolutely no fucking reason.

    Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus! Are we great again?

  • NABDad@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    I don’t think there’s really any chance, but I’ve reached the point where I want things to get so bad that we actually elect enough progressive politicians to actually fix what’s wrong.

    I truly believe in democracy, even though it has been fucking up lately. I think having a bloodless revolution every 2-4 years via elections is infinitely superior to having to actually build guillotines. At the same time I also think there’s a point where interfering with the process for bloodless revolutions makes bloody revolutions inevitable.

    The current administration is both homicidally incompetent, and completely out of touch, so there’s a chance that the pressure will keep increasing until a fault forms and the ensuing catastrophe shakes the electorate out of their current stupidity enough to elect progressive people who will actually run the country for the people.

    The alternative is the slow sleepwalk into slavery that we’ve been doing for decades.

    The effort to gerrymander the shit out of everything is actually a positive sign: it shows that even the sociopaths running things understand that elections still matter. If elections still matter, the people are still in control.

    Unfortunately, most of the people are mouth-breathing morons.

    • 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Hey, I just had a thought. Do you think people buying only one or two dolls instead of 37 might be bad for an economy designed to grow forever?

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        There are a whole lot of thoughts that are bad for something that requires delusional thinking like infinite growth. This is why the conservatives work to dismantle (real) education in this country.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      18 days ago

      Soon there will be a critical mass of people who have nothing left to lose

      I hope they realize that, while Trump is the figurehead, he isn’t the only one who has intentionally put them in that position.

    • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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      18 days ago

      We are close to the point where trump has no chance to win another election, but pretty far from the point where people start dragging politicians out of their homes and hanging them.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Trump can’t run again. If he’s still in charge after Jan 20, 2029 the US is dead.

  • TronBronson@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I work seasonal in retail and it’s a pretty mixed bag this Christmas. The haves and have nots are easy to spot. I agree about half my customers are hurting.

  • skozzii@lemmy.ca
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    18 days ago

    I just hope he keeps gaslighting everyone and telling them how great everything is while he literally loots and destroys the country. Atleast we have some economic prosperity to look forward to once he is gone, and his policies reversed.

    • tym@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Ever tried to rally a group of individualistic cowards? I’d rather herd kittens off curtains. The cold war never ended, and I’m exhausted by watching literally everyone around me take the bait.

      I swear these comments are ruzzian troll bot farm propaganda. The system worked for hundreds of years and once we hit max pain, it’ll work again. We just have an adultescence problem to sort through first.

      • minorkeys@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Hey maybe try and save your country?

        Ruzzian trolls bot farm propaganda!

        This is why America is fucked.

        • tym@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          I did one “save america” yesterday but the green light didn’t come on. Can you reboot it on your end please?

  • Plurrbear@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Where’s my $2k check? Why aren’t egg prices down? Clearly, this administration doesn’t give a fuck about the people! They only care about themselves and how to line their pockets! Time to CLEAN FUCKING HOUSE! Worst 4 years of our lives!!!

    • Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works
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      17 days ago

      Want even more fun? Look at when the next government shutdown is scheduled (funding runs out) and look at when the IRS is set to start accepting returns.

      🤡🤡🤡🤡

          • Plurrbear@lemmy.world
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            14 days ago

            Wake up and realize that was his whole damn platform…. Lower prices on everything but didn’t inflicting tariffs, checks for everyone but only he only is helping his billionaire homies, didn’t help farmers but hurt them, cut jobs and jobs still down in the worst history! Get off FAUX news and RESEARCH and use whatever critical thinking skills you have, if any…

            “Stop driving your gas guzzler car, asshole” Or else “climate catastrophe”.

            You sound ignorant, do you know how tariffs work? He needs to stop blaming Biden for EVERYTHING while a year later, he’s one of the worst to our economy by far in our 21st century by also being a pedo, and causing an insurrection that lead to NOTHING but a stain on America!

            He’s an embarrassment, hands down!

            • quick_snail@feddit.nl
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              14 days ago

              What are you going on about? If you want to stop the climate catastrophe, you have to stop rich countries from polluting. That means banning carbon extraction, carbon burning, and factory farms.

              • Plurrbear@lemmy.world
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                3 hours ago

                I am only one damn person just like you so….

                I use my electric scooter to go to work and use the solar panel electric for it! And I live in a state with zero temps… WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?! Back off and do something more!

  • BanMe@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    My first-two-weeks-of-January paycheck hits next week, early because the university shuts down totally during the break. So technically I can afford some meager gifts, and to be current on my mortgage and utilities, but next month half my income will be gone already.

    And I know a garnishment judgment for a bill I just cannot pay will hit soon, so that’s 25% of my pay gone.

    Basically I’m OK now but 2026 is already shaping up to be a flaming financial disaster.