Trump’s grip loosens in GOP stronghold with voters ‘freaking out’ over rising costs

President Donald Trump has said “the American dream is back,” but residents in an Arizona county he won overwhelmingly are turning to food banks — and questioning his promises.

“It takes an older person a lot of giving up to do something like this,” said Kandy Soto, a Trump voter who once donated to her local food bank and now relies on it.

The 66-year-old retiree voted for Trump, hoping he would make life affordable again. Instead, rising grocery prices and her husband’s injury left the family struggling, reported The Atlantic’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez.

But Soto isn’t alone in her sense of disillusionment with Trump ahead of the November midterm elections. Nearly everyone Sanchez interviewed, including Trump supporters, said they felt worse off than before the 2024 election.

“The toll of rising prices has been especially acute in Arizona,” Sanchez wrote. “About half a million residents have lost their food stamps since the summer of 2025 because of changes in Trump’s signature tax legislation, which limits assistance and penalizes states that make mistakes when they grant benefits.”

Victoria Dombrowski, a mother of two, lost $800 a month in food aid after struggling to complete the renewal process under the new requirements.

“My fridge is still empty,” she told The Atlantic.

Trump-voting business owner Dawn Zimmerman told the outlet people are “freaking out” over costs. Asked whether she would support Republicans in November, she hesitated.

“It’s hard right now because there’s a lot of — there’s more deceit,” she said.