(NewsNation) — President Trump needs to follow through on economic promises he made to the “paycheck-to-paycheck” voters who helped him secure a second term, says a GOP pollster who questions some White House tactics.
Frank Luntz said the group of financially struggling voters generally support the Trump administration’s intent to downsize government, though they may not appreciate the style of Trump’s designated budget slasher, billionaire Elon Musk.
“They don’t want the president to take his eye off the ball when it comes to how much their day-to-day life costs them,” Luntz said Wednesday during an “On Balance” interview.
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“When you say, ‘paycheck to paycheck,’ it means that their house is barely paid for,” he said of the voters. “It means they have nothing left over at the end of the week or end of the month. And they want to make sure that this administration is as focused now as they were during the election campaign.”
He said these voters wonder how Trump’s threatened tariffs may affect the prices they pay. Some of them also worry about potential cuts to the safety net of Medicaid, Luntz said, because they are one health care crisis away from bankruptcy.
As for Musk, who toted a chainsaw at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Luntz said the paycheck-to-paycheck crowd may not appreciate his methods.
Said Luntz: “My message to Elon Musk is, they believe in the principles that he has articulated. They believe in the effort that he’s doing, but they don’t believe in the way that he’s communicating it, and he’s creating enemies that don’t necessarily have to exist.”
