Right-wing media: 2025 election results should prompt Republicans to focus on affordability

• Fox anchor Bret Baier: “This dichotomy between how Wall Street is doing and how big business is doing and how you feel about it at home is something Republicans really have to look at closely.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/5/25]
• Fox host Sean Hannity said, “I do see things that Republicans can learn from tonight, even though we’re talking about … three very blue states. And I think the one big thing that pops off the page to me … is the economy.” He argued that Trump “laid the foundation for his economic success, he has his plan in place, but there is a lag period between putting that in place and actually seeing the growth that you want and are predicting, that I believe will occur. I would like to see more talk about the economy moving forward from Republicans.” Fox anchor Martha MacCallum replied: “I agree with you completely. And this idea of affordability, which just basically means inflation, that prices are too high, and that that's a real sensitivity spot for people, is, I think, something that Republicans have to look carefully at.” [Fox News, Hannity, 11/4/25]
• The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles acknowledged that “maybe people are concerned about rising prices, maybe people are concerned about grocery prices in particular, maybe people are concerned about the fundamentals of the economy and the political order.” Knowles added, “We’ve long said if the economy falters at all, that’s going to really mess up the Republicans in the midterms and potentially in 2028.” [The Daily Wire, The Michael Knowles Show, 11/5/25]
• Fox’s America Reports graphic: “Affordability issue fuels election wins for Dems.” Fox anchor Sandra Smith noted, “The Democrats’ focus on kitchen table issues appears to have helped them pull off some major wins last night.” Fox Business host Charles Payne added: “I think this whole thing boils down to, yeah, cost of living is important, but the fact is that so many people who might have normally been able to meet these demands are finding trouble.” [Fox News, America Reports, 11/5/25]
• Conservative commentator Mike Cernovich declared, “The number one issue is the economy.” He also criticized Trump for his “side quest for the Nobel peace prize, simultaneously quixotic and self-indulgent,” and asked Trump to “focus on domestic issues now.” [Twitter/X, 11/5/25]
• In response to an exit poll showing the impact of “cost of living” on Mamdani’s win, right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong stated, “It’s always about the economy. It’s rarely about much else.” [Twitter/X, 11/5/25]
• Right-wing radio host Erick Erickson: “One result that was really consistent across states in exit polling, however, is that people are feeling the cost of living.” Erickson continued: “Like it or not, inflation is growing faster than wages again. And yes, tariffs are playing a role, but not the only role. Republicans promised they’d lower grocery prices, and grocery prices are on the rise. It’s not a coincidence that coffee prices and banana prices are showing up repeatedly in stories about grocery prices going up. The President has placed a big tariff on the countries from which we get those things. Yes, Republicans, the economy still matters, and, contrary to the President, tariffs are hurting people.” [Twitter/X, 11/5/25]
• Erickson: “Funny watching all the rightwing progressives make last night about identity politics instead of groceries, prices, inflation, the shutdown, etc.” [Twitter/X, 11/5/25]
• Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham: “Hampering the economy with instability and explicitly raising some prices, when inflation is a top issue, is gonna hurt you.” [Twitter/X, 11/5/25]
• National Review’s Jim Geraghty: “There’s still a year between now and the 2026 midterm elections, but the Republicans have good reason to worry. Americans still feel like the cost of living is too high — and tariffs make retail prices go up.” [Twitter/X, 11/5/25]
• Fox anchor Bill Hemmer: “Republicans calling for a course correction. Voters making their voices loud and clear, naming the economy as the most important issue.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 11/5/25]
• Newsmax correspondent Alana Austin: “What we are hearing today from voters who sided with the Democrats, they were simply unhappy with their bills, the cost of housing. Also, that ongoing federal government shutdown.” [Newsmax, The National Report, 11/5/25]

But right-wing media have defended Republican policies that are contributing to the affordability crisis

• Fox personalities repeatedly dismissed the effect Trump’s tariffs have had on inflation, which surged to 3% in September. As economists this summer explained how Trump’s tariffs were beginning to show up in inflation data, Fox Business hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jackie DeAngelis, along with guest Art Laffer, denied any tariff impact on prices. Meanwhile, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index re-accelerated following Trump’s Fox-endorsed “Liberation Day” tariffs first announced in April. [Media Matters, 7/15/25, 8/12/25, 4/1/25; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed 11/5/25; CBS News, 4/9/25]
• Right-wing media have defended Trump’s tariff and trade policies even as they hurt American manufacturing. News organizations have detailed how Trump’s trade policies have failed to revive manufacturing and harmed the U.S. auto industry in particular with billions of dollars in lost profits. However, right-wing media — especially Fox — defended Trump’s tariffs and trade policies as necessary to “reignite a manufacturing golden age.” [Media Matters, 8/20/25, 7/25/25]
• Fox has glossed over increasing grocery prices and made excuses for Trump failing his campaign pledge to lower food costs. Throughout October, Fox News and Fox Business spent an average of less than 1 1/2 minutes per day on rising food prices that affect every single American. As soon as Trump returned to office, Fox began making up excuses for his failure to lower grocery prices as he promised on the campaign trail. So far, as reported by CNN, “average grocery prices in September were about 2.7% higher than they were a year prior and about 1.4% higher than they were in January,” when Trump began his second term, and many staples are much higher: The average price of coffee has risen nearly 19% and beef has risen almost 15%. According to Michigan State University food economist David Ortega, Trump’s “policy agenda that we’re seeing,” including tariffs and mass deportation, “is more likely to increase the price of food.” [Media Matters, 11/3/25, 2/25/25, 3/3/25; CNN, 10/24/25, 9/20/25]
• Right-wing media criticized Democrats’ attempt to address expiring enhanced health insurance premium tax credits — and the cost to purchase health insurance plans has spiked after Republicans’ failure to extend the credits. Right-wing media attacked Democrats for attempting to prevent millions of Americans from potentially losing health care coverage. KFF estimated that with the tax credits expiring, “subsidized Marketplace enrollees’ out-of-pocket premium payments will be 114% higher, on average.” News organizations have reported that some Americans have seen their health insurance plan premiums increase by thousands of dollars for the next year. [Media Matters, 10/14/25; NPR, 11/5/25; KFF, 10/28/25; CBS News, 11/3/25; ABC News, 11/1/25]
• Right-wing media have embraced Trump’s war against renewable energy, which has contributed to higher energy costs. In New Jersey, Murdoch media outlets have misleadingly blamed clean and renewable energy policies for higher electricity prices in the state. These attacks have come amid action by Trump to shrink the energy supply by halting renewable energy investment and construction projects across the nation, likely leading to higher energy prices. According to reports, electricity prices are increasing much faster than prices in general. [Media Matters, 10/21/25, 8/29/25, 8/27/25; NPR, 8/16/25; The New York Times, 10/30/25]