ICYMI: Lehigh Valley Voters Are Frustrated that Trump and Ryan Mackenzie Are Spiking Costs

Asked about Trump and Republicans’ failure to lower prices, one Lehigh Valley small business owner and three-time Trump voter told CNN: “I’m very let down by that. Very, very let down because it’s – I feel like it’s only gotten worse.”

Read key details from CNN’s conversations with Lehigh Valley voters:

• Jenique Jones is “super busy” these days. Because of what she does — and where she lives — that is perilous news for President Donald Trump and Republican control of Washington.
• “My business assists people in repairing their credit,” Jones said in an interview at the Bethlehem office of Lehigh Valley Credit Restoration. “Managing their finances and basically being financially organized.”
• She has been super busy, Jones told us, because “times are tough.”
• “Everything is going up except the wages here. This is the Lehigh Valley, or the hub between Philadelphia and New York, and they are raising prices and the locals really can’t afford to keep up.”
• Bethlehem is synonymous with blue-collar America, and because of the area’s voting history it is a laboratory for testing the national mood. Right now, plenty of people are living paycheck to paycheck; more and more are asking to meet with Jones because of an affordability crisis.
• They tell her a range of stories. “My husband lost all of his overtime,” is one Jones often hears. Or also: “My kids’ daycare went up. Can’t afford the cost of food. Using credit cards for everyday expenses. No money left after the bills are paid.” “Pretty much just a whole bunch of financial mess,” she says.
• Jones is a three-time Trump voter… But now, she is blunt in saying he has simply failed to keep his 2024 campaign pledge to make life more affordable.
• “I’m very let down by that. Very, very let down because it’s — I feel like it’s only gotten worse,” she said.
• The numbers back Jones up. The unemployment rate in the Lehigh Valley is up since Trump returned to the White House. Pennsylvania grocery costs are up 8.2% in the past year, well above the national average of 5%. And rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Bethlehem averages $1,900 a month, up just shy of 6% from a year ago.
• “People are just struggling to pay basic needs,” Jones said. “People can’t afford everyday life. The average grocery shopping, even for myself, let’s say $150 a week is now $250 a week.”
• Bethlehem will be central to testing whether the same dynamics play out in the 2026 midterms, when Democrats are looking to capture the House majority and create a roadblock to the Trump agenda.
• It sits in Pennsylvania’s bellwether Northampton County, a place known for picking political winners and a county we visited several times during our 2024 travels for our All Over the Map project, looking at the election through the eyes and experiences of voters.
• The winner in Northampton has won statewide and nationally in the past five presidential elections — and in 29 of 32 dating back to 1900. Plus, Trump’s 2024 win helped flip Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District from blue to red, but by just 4,000 votes. It is a top 2026 Democratic target.
• The political impact is clear in the president’s moribund approval rating. Still, our visit was stunning. No one said costs were down. Some said they were about the same. But most — including several loyal Trump voters — said that the pressures they face in November 2025 are worse than a year ago.
• Tariffs and grocery prices would have been the top complaint if you stopped in Cutters Bike Shop a few weeks ago, but now health care has been added to the mix.
• “It’s tripling,” Lisa Ronca said, repeating herself as if in disbelief. “It’s going to be triple, triple, triple this year, which equates to double the cost we pay for our mortgage, for our house. So we can’t keep that plan, to say the least.”
• Trump has repeatedly said costs are down, and that it is his critics who are lying about prices being high. But “he doesn’t go grocery shopping,” Lisa Ronca said. “It’s hard. It’s definitely significantly more.”
• The Roncas’ overall 2025 experience has been higher costs and lower profit margins.
• The bike shop and its inventory — bikes and parts — carry labels from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia. For them, Trump’s tariffs are like riding a rollercoaster blindfolded.
• “Over this current year, it has been constant increases,” John Ronca said. “Every two to three months. We get letters from the companies, ‘We’re having a 10% increase.’ (Then) another 10% increase. And it just keeps escalating.”
• “I have no problem voting for either side if the person is good for the area,” John Ronca said.
• But their affordability stress — especially from rises in their health care costs — shapes their early thoughts about next November.
• “I’m going to vote for a person who puts a check on him,” John Ronca said as Lisa nodded in agreement. “You know what I mean? Who’s going to rein the president in.”

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