Opinion

LEE CARTER: Trump can still get attention, can he distract voters from their bills?

34% of registered voters say the cost of living is the top issue facing the country

By Lee Hartley Carter Fox News

Published September 30, 2026 5:00am EDT

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President Donald Trump has never suffered from an attention deficit.

Ours, maybe. His, never.

For more than a decade, Trump has demonstrated an almost supernatural ability to decide what America will talk about. A nickname. A Truth Social post. A feud. A rally. A tariff. A threat. A late-night broadside against somebody who had the gall to criticize him.

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Trump throws the ball and Washington and the media chase it.

President Donald Trump spoke during a "No Tax on Tips" roundtable on April 16, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nev., where he promoted his economic agenda ahead of the midterm elections. (Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But something interesting is happening as we head toward the midterms.

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The country may be getting tired of chasing.

The latest Fox News poll contains a number that should be flashing in giant red letters inside the White House: Asked, without being given a list, to name the most important issue facing the country, 34% of registered voters said the cost of living. Another 14% said the economy and jobs.

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Nothing else came close. Immigration was at 8%. The war with Iran, 4%. AI and data centers, despite consuming approximately 94% of the oxygen in corporate America, registered at 1%.

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Voters are not being........

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