Trump claims ‘roaring’ economy but these Americans aren’t feeling it

Описание: (25 Feb 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Minneapolis – 25 February 2026
1. Various snow-covered park in Minneapolis
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Abby Bachenberg, Health insurance worker:
“My utilities have definitely gone up, I think grocery prices have definitely gone up as well. At least probably, I don't know, ballpark for me, like, I used to probably only spend about $80 on groceries, and now I feel like I'm spending over $100 every time I go to the grocery store.”
3. Snow-covered park
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Abby Bachenberg, Health insurance worker:
“My boyfriend and I, we're not going to go on any, like, larger vacations this summer. We're kind of cutting back and trying to not do anything extravagant just in case, um, I mean, one of us were to lose our jobs or something like that. Like, he's a federal employee. I work for a health insurer that's done a lot of layoffs in the last few years. So we're kind of both up in the air. Like, uh, hopefully our jobs are safe, but keeping that like, um, kind of like hedging against, um, maybe a recession, just lowering our spending a little bit.”
5. Person walking though park
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Abby Bachenberg, Health insurance worker:
“People are experiencing the economy really different because of the income inequality. And you can't just say, oh, GDP is going up. Oh, the stock market's going up. Everyone's doing great. Nah, like it's so different for different people. Yeah, I guess the billionaires are doing great as always, but not the people who are making the lower quintile or the lower half, the lower, honestly, the lower 80%.”
7. Person walking through park
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Kari Jorgensen, Healthcare worker:
“I would say for myself, it's just general day-to-day expenses. So gas and groceries. But I'm very concerned about friends and family who are going through healthcare issues and the struggles that they have to try to get coverage.”
9. Traffic on highway
10. SOUNDBITE (English) James Jacobson, Software worker:
“I know a lot of people that are struggling right now. Matter of fact, I just brought some rice to one of my neighbors who has effectively cried in my arms this morning saying she can't even afford rice.”
11. Traffic on highway
12. SOUNDBITE (English) James Jacobson, Software worker:
“You know, you're going to sit there and campaign about my egg prices going down, my gas prices going down. I'm hoping to see it. And if I did see it, then maybe I'd shut my mouth on a few other things.”
13. Traffic against Minneapolis skyline
STORYLINE:
President Donald Trump sought in his first State of the Union address to sell Americans on the idea of a booming economy, falling prices, and soaring jobs, yet he faces a skeptical public with a much gloomier view.

Barely 12 hours before his speech, in fact, The Conference Board, a business research group, released its latest consumer confidence report. It showed that overall confidence in the economy remains historically low, and is barely above the level it plunged to in the depths of the COVID recession.

Trump sought to overcome that gloom by pointing to economic data that paints a brighter picture, a tactic that President Joe Biden tried with little success. But on Tuesday night there were gaps between the president’s claims and the economic reality many Americans are facing.

Trump noted that the price of eggs has fallen sharply from its peak, which is true, but most necessities Americans rely on — groceries, rent, electricity — remain much more expensive than they were five years ago. And electricity prices rose another 6.3% just in the past 12 months.

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