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the guardian
Nearly Half of Americans Say Their Financial Security Is Getting Worse Under Trump
In a recent focus group, one voter who supported the president in 2024 said Trump's recent claims that the economy is strong were "delusional."
Dec 29, 2025
New polling from The Guardian on Monday bolstered recent analyses that have shown low consumer confidence and job creation numbers and higher household costs and unemployment: Americans are struggling under President Donald Trump's economic policies, and they increasingly believe the White House—for all Trump's claims that the economy is strong—is to blame.
The poll, conducted by Harris for the news outlet between December 11 and 13, found that respondents were twice as likely to say their financial security is getting worse as they were to report an improvement.
Nearly half of those surveyed said their financial situation is worsening, and 57% said they perceived that the US is in a recession—although that would be defined by two quarters of negative growth in the US economy, which the country has not experienced at this point.
Despite that, the poll—along with recent focus groups including members of Trump's 2024 base, held by Syracuse University and reported on Monday by NBC News—illustrated how Trump's focus on imposing tariffs on countries around the world and his promotion of policies that have raised household bills for millions of people have left Americans feeling pessimistic about their own financial health and that of the country.
Democratic voters were far more likely than Republicans to tell Harris that their financial security is getting worse, with 52% of the latter saying so compared with 27% of the former.
But 54% of independent voters agreed that they are struggling more financially, despite Trump's recent claim that he would give the economy a grade of "A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”
"We have seen a shift among these voters collectively, cracks in their faith, more questioning, oscillating, or outright change of heart about Trump."
Respondents from across the political spectrum were more likely than ever before to blame the White House for their financial struggles, Harris said.
More than three-quarters of Democrats blamed Trump's policies and "government management of the economy," along with 72% of independents and more than half of Republicans—55%.
Analyses this year have shown Trump's tariffs, which he claimed soon after taking office would "liberate" Americans from the national debt, are raising costs for small businesses and making it harder for them to stay afloat, and are passing on higher prices to consumers—resulting in ballooning grocery bills for millions of Americans.
Trump made lowering grocery prices a central promise of his campaign last year, along with repeatedly pledging that he was "going to get your energy prices down by 50%.”
But the president's embrace of artificial intelligence and the expansion of data centers—something he and congressional Republicans have aggressively pushed states to allow despite public disapproval—is unlikely to result in lower utility prices for households. Those costs have risen by 13% since Trump took office, with the president's cancellation of renewable energy projects to blame as well as energy-sucking data centers.
The focus groups held by Syracuse recently found that voters who supported the president last year have rapidly grown discouraged by his economic policies, including his tariffs, which one participant called "a tax on the American people."
"That’s who pays for it, so I don’t support it,” David S. of New Jersey told NBC. “The people who are buying those imports are paying the tax.”
With less than a year until voters are set to decide if Republicans should keep their majorities in the US House and Senate, fewer than half of the people surveyed in four focus groups said they believed Trump has made it a priority to fight inflation and reduce their costs. Robert L. of Virginia told Syracuse researchers that the president's recent comments painting a sunny picture of the economy were "delusional."
Another Virginia voter, Justin K., said the president has been focused on "prosecuting his political enemies" and "pardoning people" and has not "tried at all" to tackle the rising cost of living.
A number of those surveyed said they had decided to back Democratic candidates Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in this year's gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey just a year after supporting Trump.
"Many of these voters gave President Trump a long runway well into the summer because they believed that he understands how business works better than they do and that his own fortune would eventually translate to enriching the country and their own finances," Margaret Talev, director of Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship, told NBC on Monday.
"But as the year wore on, we have seen a shift among these voters collectively, cracks in their faith, more questioning, oscillating, or outright change of heart about Trump," Talev said. "What we almost never see is a wish for a do-over vote or a rush toward Democrats for the answer."
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After Anti-Genocide Protests, Microsoft Cuts Israeli Military Off From Cloud Services
"Though a step in the right direction," said one legal advocate, "this is not enough to end Microsoft's complicity in the genocide perpetrated by Israel."
Sep 25, 2025
After multiple exposés and international protests about Microsoft's "genocidal collaboration" with the Israel Defense Forces, the tech giant told employees on Thursday that it cut the IDF off from certain cloud storage and artificial intelligence technology.
Microsoft launched a review last month, after The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call reported that the IDF's Unit 8200 was using the cloud platform Azure to store data from "millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians" in the illegally occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have killed at least tens of thousands of people over the past two years.
"We have reviewed The Guardian's allegations based on two principles, both grounded in Microsoft's longstanding protection of privacy as a fundamental right," Brad Smith, the company's vice chair and president, wrote to employees. "First, we do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians... Second, we respect and protect the privacy rights of our customers."
"While our review is ongoing, we have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian's reporting," he continued. Thus, Microsoft has informed Israel's Ministry of Defense (IMOD) of its "decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies."
"I want to note our appreciation for the reporting of The Guardian," he added. "I'll share more information in the coming days and weeks, when it's appropriate to do so, including lessons learned from this review and how we will apply those lessons as we go forward."
Shoutout to the Microsoft worker organizers who have been tirelessly (and often at the cost of their jobs) pushing Microsoft- not nearly enough but just another brick to crumble
[image or embed]
— Molly Shah (@mommunism.bsky.social) September 25, 2025 at 11:31 AM
The newspaper reported Thursday that, according to a document it obtained, a senior Microsoft executive similarly told IMOD late last week that the company "is not in the business of facilitating the mass surveillance of civilians" and "while our review is ongoing, we have at this juncture identified evidence that supports elements of The Guardian's reporting."
As The Guardian noted:
The termination is the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza.
The decision has not affected Microsoft's wider commercial relationship with the IDF, which is a longstanding client and will retain access to other services.
The outlets involved in the August 6 reporting—and others, including The Associated Press and Drop Site News—have reported on Microsoft's relationship with the Israeli military throughout the year.
Drop Site's Ryan Grim highlighted that the company's decision is "a major victory for dissident Microsoft workers, who have been protesting intensely internally."
Microsoft employees have protested the company's ties to Israel since even before this year's reporting. For example, the "No Azure for Apartheid" petition was written by workers and shared internally in May 2024, to mark the 76th year of the Nakba—which means catastrophe in Arabic and is used to describe the ethnic cleansing of Palestine to establish the modern state of Israel.
No Azure for Apartheid on Thursday called the announcement "an unprecedented win" that "has only been possible because of the sustained pressure by our campaign," but also emphasized that "this action is insufficient."
"Today, on the 719th day of the genocide, the Israeli military, armed with Microsoft technology, is intensifying its genocidal campaign by invading Gaza City, forcibly starving more than 2 million Palestinians, and expanding ethnic cleansing in the West Bank," the campaign said. "By choosing to maintain this deep partnership with the Israeli military, Microsoft insists on continuing to serve as the technological backbone to the ongoing genocide and apartheid. At a time when countries around the globe are imposing arms embargoes on the Israeli military, our demand for a digital arms embargo has never been more critical."
Last month, seven current and former Microsoft workers were arrested after occupying Smith's office in Redmond, Washington, to protest the company's complicity in "the first AI-powered genocide." According to No Azure for Apartheid, the company has fired five employees following protests at its headquarters.
There have also been actions by critics outside Microsoft, including an August demonstration at a data center in the Netherlands.
Sabrene Odeh, community legal advocate at the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA), said in a Thursday statement that "though a step in the right direction, this is not enough to end Microsoft's complicity in the genocide perpetrated by Israel. Tech workers, across the board, have been sounding the alarm for two years with serious concerns over how technology is being used against civilians."
"If Microsoft is ready to end its complicity," Odeh continued, "it must listen to the brave tech workers in its base—who have been discriminated against, let go, and even quit their jobs because they no longer can be accomplices to the crimes Israel is committing—and end all ties with Israel."
CAIR-WA executive director Imraan Siddiqi stressed that it's not just Microsoft, arguing that "all tech companies must completely divest from their activities supporting the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and ensure that their employees who speak up against human rights abuses are protected."
This article has been updated with comment from No Azure for Apartheid.
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Facing 'Dangerous Attacks on Care' From GOP, At Least 20 Planned Parenthood Clinics Close
"We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues," said the head of Planned Parenthood North Central States.
Jun 02, 2025
On the heels of Planned Parenthood announcing clinic closures in the Midwest last month, The Guardian published a Monday analysis showing that the reproductive healthcare provider has closed or disclosed plans to shutter at least 20 locations across seven states since the beginning of the year "amid immense financial and political turbulence."
"The Planned Parenthood network, which operates nearly 600 clinics through a web of independent regional affiliates and is overseen by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is facing a number of threats from the Trump administration," the newspaper reported, detailing closures in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Utah, and Vermont.
In a May statement, Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS) detailed cost-saving closures, consolidation, and layoffs impacting eight health centers in Iowa and Minnesota, and stressed that "dangerous attacks on care continue."
"My heart hurts as we announce the closure of health centers and the departure of trusted and talented colleagues, but our patients come first—always," said Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of PPNCS. "We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues."
Since the U.S. Supreme Court empowered abortion opponents by reversing Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in 2022, those attacks have included the freezing of Title X funds and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voting last month to advance a reconciliation package that would defund Planned Parenthood.
In response to the House's May vote, Jessica Barquist, Kayla Montgomery, and Lisa Margulies, vice presidents of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE), said, "To be clear, 'defunding' Planned Parenthood and taking away health insurance from millions will do nothing to lower healthcare costs, address challenges in our healthcare system, or save lives."
"Taking healthcare away from people struggling to deal with rising costs and preventing people from using their health insurance at their trusted provider is cruel," they continued. "We know what happens when people lose access to care: they skip cancer screenings, delay STI testing, miss birth control appointments. These delays lead to worsened health outcomes and more costly emergency care down the line."
In addition to warning of "catastrophic" consequences for patients, the trio highlighted that "analysis from the Congressional Budget Office finds 'defunding' Planned Parenthood would cost $300 million and is the only provision in the healthcare portion of the bill that would increase the deficit."
PPNNE in April announced the closure of a Vermont health center, citing "serious financial hardship." Nicole Clegg, president and CEO of the regional group, said at the time that the decision was "very difficult" and "PPNNE attempted many different investments and organizational changes to tackle the complexities of delivering care in St. Johnsbury, but the challenges persisted."
That same month, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU) said that it had to restructure due to the Trump administration's attacks, "including the recent withholding of $2.8 million in Title X funding."
"The painful decisions to close Logan and St. George health centers, reduce PPAU's staff, and increase service fees are forced on us by the Trump administration," declared PPAU interim CEO Sarah Stoesz. "We believe that by consolidating our healthcare delivery and expanding telehealth, we will be in a better position to continue serving those who rely on us for healthcare."
Planned Parenthood of Michigan (PPMI) also revealed in April that it "is reducing its brick-and-mortar footprint and reorganizing operations statewide," which includes closing three health centers in Jackson, Petoskey, and Marquette; consolidating two clinics in Ann Arbor; and expanding its telehealth offerings.
PPMI president and CEO Paula Thornton Greear said at the time that "the Trump administration and its anti-abortion allies have made clear their intention to defund Planned Parenthood and attack access to sexual and reproductive healthcare nationwide," and "these necessary changes strengthen PPMI's ability to adapt quickly in a challenging political landscape."
The Guardian noted that PPMI "was not among the Planned Parenthood affiliates that saw their Title X funding frozen," and "did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the clinic closures and the role of Title X in those closures."
According to the newspaper:
Planned Parenthood’s financial woes have raised eyebrows for some advocates of abortion rights and reproductive health. The organization has weathered several crises, including allegations of mismanagement, in the years since Roe collapsed—but as the face of U.S. abortion access it continued to rake in donations. (Most abortions in the US are in fact performed by small "independent" clinics, which are grappling with their own financial turmoil.) As of June 2023, the Planned Parenthood network had about $3 billion in assets, according to its 2024 report.
In March, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) announced it would put its property that houses the Manhattan Health Center up for sale as part of an "ongoing strategy to ensure future, long-term patient access for underserved communities throughout New York state."
Just two days after U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office in January—following a campaign in which the Republican tried to downplay how much voters care about reproductive rights while also bragging about his role in reversing Roe—Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) said it would close four health centers, downsize administrative staff, and boost telehealth.
Illinois, a blue state surrounded by red ones, saw an influx of "abortion refugees" post-Dobbs. PPIL interim president and CEO Tonya Tucker said in January that "we made plans for the patient surge, however, rising care costs and lower reimbursement rates from insurers is jeopardizing PPIL's sustainability."
"Unfortunately, this is the reality many other Planned Parenthood affiliates are facing in the rapidly evolving healthcare environment," Tucker added. "We are making the difficult decisions today so we can continue providing care tomorrow and well into the future."
Other recent reporting has also highlighted how reproductive healthcare providers, particularly those that offer abortion, are struggling to stay open, even in places where politicians haven't passed laws that make it harder to end pregnancies.
"At least 17 clinics closed last year in states where abortion remains legal," NPR reported last month, citing the Guttmacher Institute. "Experts say the closures indicate that financial and operational challenges, rather than future legal bans, may be the biggest threats to abortion access in states whose laws still protect it."
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