Dec. 15, 2025, 5:00 AM ESTBy Peter NicholasFEASTERVILLE, Pa. — Fishing through his wallet, David Teeling pulls out a wrinkled newspaper clip showing Donald Trump working the drive-thru of a local McDonald’s — this McDonald’s, the very same one where he and a few friends routinely meet to talk politics and sports.Teeling keeps the picture as verifiable proof for those who don’t believe him when he explains what happened: The once and future president turned up in suburban Philadelphia toward the end of the 2024 campaign and scooped French fries for the customers pulling up to the window.“Some people believe me and some don’t, so I keep that,” says Teeling, 70, over a cup of coffee.A year ago, Trump visited this site to make the point that he was attuned to everyday people who felt overlooked in the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris economy.Trump touts economic policies as recent polls show disapproval05:13These days, it’s Trump who’s in danger of appearing out of touch. Ahead of midterm elections next year, voters are feeling squeezed by high prices and blaming Trump for not doing enough to ease the cost of living, polling shows.A new NBC News Decision Desk survey shows that 53% of adults have changed their grocery-buying habits to stay within budget, while 55% have cut back on entertainment and “extras” so that they can afford life’s necessities.A sampling of grocery prices shows the price of eggs has dropped 29% since Trump was sworn in, though beef prices are up nearly 13%, chicken prices are up 2% and bread is up 4%. Orange juice prices have climbed 28% since the start of Trump’s term, according to Nieslen IQ data in the NBC News grocery price tracker.Overall, an AP-NORC poll found that just 31% of adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, the lowest rating he’s notched in either his first or second term.“We can improve those numbers,” John McLaughlin, a Trump pollster, said in an interview. “We did it in 2023 and 2024 and we can do it again. In an election year, Trump will be able to spend more time with voters outside the Beltway.”“The White House doesn’t have a choice but to have President Trump campaign in the midterm elections,” McLaughlin added. “Without Trump on the ballot, it’s hard to get his voters to turn out. If you can’t motivate the Trump voters, we’re not going to win in the midterms.”The White House seems to agree. Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, said in a podcast interview that the idea is to put Trump “on the ballot” by having him campaign as if it’s 2024 all over again.For Trump, the question is whether he can muster the discipline to consistently deliver a two-part message. He needs to show he grasps that people are struggling while also hammering the point that he’s committed to making their lives better, political strategists say. That’s a tricky balance requiring some humility on Trump’s part, a recognition that “the golden age” he promised at the start of his term is still unrealized.Thus far, Trump blames lingering inflation on Biden, a bogeyman he continues to bash even as the economy bears his imprint with each passing day. He says there is much for voters to cheer, including gas prices, which have fallen from $3.03 a gallon one year ago to $2.92 now; the stock market, where the S&P 500 index is up 16% this year; and new foreign investment in the U.S. totaling trillions of dollars.As for the affordability issue, he calls it a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.On his social media site last week, Trump wrote that “affordability, just 13 months ago, was a disaster for the American people, but now, it’s totally different! Prices are coming down fast.”Still, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that Trump’s tariffs are pushing inflation higher than the rate would be otherwise. After falling to a low this year of 2.3% in April, inflation rose to 3% in September for the first time since January. September was the last month data was available.Even members of Trump’s own party have said that prices are too high and Republicans can’t ignore them. “People aren’t dumb. They know when they go to the grocery store what it costs and what it doesn’t,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told NBC News last week.Michael DuHaime, former political director at the Republican National Committee, put it this way: “You can continue to talk about Biden or even Obama or Jimmy Carter if you want. The voters will only tolerate it for so long.”Past presidents faced a similar conundrum, with uneven results. No sitting president wants to concede that their economic policies haven’t delivered. Yet a president risks appearing callous by denying what’s obvious to people who can’t afford to buy ground beef at the supermarket. “One of the mistakes we made as part of the Biden team was not leading with more empathy,” Sam Cornale, former CEO of the Democratic National Committee, said in an interview. “We jumped right into trying to explain away the numbers, but voters weren’t feeling it.”An early look at Trump’s midterm campaign message unfolded last week when he traveled to a casino resort in the Poconos for a rally devoted to the economy. He showed slides and talked up his record, saying his tariffs are sparking a wave of AI, auto and other types of factory construction. But true to form, he also veered off topic, trashing Biden, Powell, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, windmills and the African nation of Somalia.“We’re a little behind the 8-ball going into the 2026 election,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster, in an interview. “The bottom line on the Republican side is we need to focus on what voters are most concerned about: the economy and the cost of living,” he said, adding that people don’t care “what happens in Somalia or the Middle East or other places. For the most part, they’re focused on their pocketbooks. So that’s what we need to be focused on.”Back at McDonald’s, there is no sign that Trump once traded his suit jacket for an apron in one of his most memorable campaign stops. In the wake of Trump’s visit, Yelp disabled its reviews of the restaurant because of caustic write-ups.On occasion, customers will take pictures of the drive-thru window where Trump made his appearance. The staff has turned over since that time; none of the employees at work on a recent weekday were there when Trump showed up. As a company, McDonald’s has faced pressures from what its CEO called a “two-tier economy.” A steep drop in traffic from lower-income customers played a part in the company’s decision to revive its “Extra Value Meal” combos this fall, according to chief executive Chris Kempczinski.Teeling said he’s prepared to be patient while Trump’s economic policies kick in. “It has gone up,” he said of the cost of living. “No question about that. But Trump is a CEO. He can turn these things around. It’s going to take a year, maybe two.”Janice Hall, 72, a retired Philadelphia city employee who was eating a cheeseburger and French fries, agrees.“It’s going to slowly go down,” she said. “We haven’t given it any time yet. It’s not even been a year.”She said she’d vote for Trump again if she could.“I think he’s funny; he’s hysterical. He has a personality,” she said.William Sanginiti, 72, a retired engineer, said over a hamburger and a Coke: “There’s always someone who’s going to complain about something. I’m not. I try to live within my means.”A dissenting note came from one of the regulars. Drinking a coffee, a 76-year-old retired truck driver said he doubts Trump will succeed in reducing prices. He said he’s had to alter his spending habits to make ends meet.“I used to eat a lot of beef; I can’t afford that,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Even when I see reduced prices at different supermarkets, they’re still on the expensive side.”He mentioned the unemployment rate, which stood at 4.4% in September, the highest it has been in the last four years.“A lot of the people who voted for him, they didn’t vote for the layoffs,” he said.Peter NicholasPeter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.Monica Alba, Joe Murphy and Steve Kopack contributed.