Trump Promised To Halve Energy Costs In First Year, But Raised Them Instead
The president claimed he would slash energy prices by half or more. Gasoline is slightly cheaper. Just about everything else is up substantially.
āEnergy costs, all of it, air conditioning, heating, all of it, including gasoline, will drop by more than 50% within the first 12 months,ā Trump said at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania in August 2024.
āUnder the Trump economic plan, we will cut your energy prices in half,ā he said the next month in North Carolina. āMark it down, you can get very angry at me if we donāt do it.ā
Sarah Longwell, a Republican political consultant who conducts focus groups about Trump voters, said the failure to reduce energy costs is just one piece of why many of them have become disenchanted with him.
āItās groceries, healthcare, childcare, energy, education, housing, et cetera. Voters talk about all of them,ā she said. āIt was the number one issue Trump was hired to fix and voters not only think he is failing, but also that heās not prioritizing the issue.ā
Electricity costs are up more than 7% from the time Trump took office through last month, according to figures compiled by the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Heating oil was slightly higher, a half percentage point increase, while natural gas was a whopping 87% more expensive year over year.
Overall, the Fedās āhousehold energyā price index increased 6.6%.
