A man wearing a MAGA hat stands as people attend a vigil at Orem City Center Park, after U.S. right-wing activist and commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

A new Harris poll conducted for Bloomberg News shows a majority of Americans are concerned about losing their jobs and the cost of living, and are increasingly frustrated by President Donald Trump's misplaced priorities.

"Some 55 percent of employed Americans say they’re concerned about losing their jobs," Bloomberg writes, following a "drumbeat announcement of layoffs" by major employees like Target, Starbucks and Amazon.

These latest numbers come "on top of households’ exasperation over the cost of living," they write.

A 62 percent majority in the Oct. 23-25 poll said "the cost of their everyday items had climbed over the last month and nearly half of those people said the increases have been difficult to afford," Bloomberg explains.

Trump's response is to put a positive spin on the economy, "deflecting blame elsewhere," they write.

Tobin Marcus, head of US policy and politics at Wolfe Research and a former adviser to Biden during his vice presidency, says that Trump's optics don't help in that deflection.

Pointing to Trump's sweeping tariffs, Marcus says that the administration's economic plan "is not squarely aimed at the pain points that are most important” to voters.

“They are seeing misplaced priorities,” Marcus says. “No one’s making an argument that the tariffs will bring prices down, which is the thing that voters first and foremost elected him to do.”

A White House official tells Bloomberg that "Trump’s advisers are considering plans for the president to give more speeches around the country about the cost of living," but Americans aren't buying their narrative.

The Harris Poll showed 48 percent of "respondents said it would take them four months or longer to find a new job of similar quality if they lost their current one."

Job growth has also slowed, "with payroll gains having plunged from an average of 168,000 a month last year to just 27,000 in May through August — the most recent month for which there’s data," Bloomberg notes.

Michael Reich, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, says things look bleak for Republicans.

“A number of signs, including the most recent consumer sentiment survey, suggest that the economy and the labor market are weakening," he says.

"If those trends continue, the party in power will be blamed. That’s ominous for the Republicans in the midterms," Reich adds.