Trump woke up on Wednesday to a 3.7 percent inflation number and a 34 percent approval rating. Nixon quit on 24.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics put September prices up 3.7 percent on the year, the last inflation report before the midterms and, outside the pandemic, the highest going into one since 1990. Gasoline did more than half the month's damage and is up 34 percent on the year. Fuel oil, the heating fuel refined from the same cut of crude as diesel, is up 74 percent. The Economist's tracker, updated the same morning, has 34 percent of Americans approving of the president, 61 percent against him, and prices the top worry for 35 percent of adults. Gallup asked the Nixon question on Aug. 2–5, 1974, four days before he resigned: 24 approve, 66 disapprove. Gallup took Nixon's number and YouGov takes Trump's, 52 years apart. Ten points separate them.
Voters know who to bill. Reuters/Ipsos found 78 percent blame Trump's policies for prices outrunning their pay, and 64 percent of Republicans put some of the blame on the White House. Trump answered it in Wasilla, Alaska, on Tuesday: "Every time they want to try and get me, they say 'affordability.'"
He spent last week buying his way out of it. On Oct. 8 he promised no strike on Iran before the midterms. On Oct. 9 his Treasury issued a license that lets Russian diesel into American ports for six months, through April 7, 2027. Diesel hit a record $6.53 a gallon on Sept. 22, and AAA has the national average at $6.30 this morning. The fuel he bought runs five months past the only date he bought it for, and its nearest cousin in this morning's table, fuel oil, is the hottest line on the page.
