...low income earners voted for Trump and soon they will learn the outcome of their decision.
...low income people typically believe that if they have it tough under the present Govt, their salvation must be the opposition. Voting the same would not change or help their position. But little did they know that voting for the opposition, in this case Trump may actually deliver worse outcomes for them. Their cost of living isn't going to get better.
45 percent of people with total family income under $30,000 voted for Trump, and Trump got 53 percent of the vote of people with household incomes between $30,000 and $50,000.
Donald Trump's China tariffs spell trouble for Walmart as sales outlook appears bleak
Story by ANNE D'INNOCENZIO & Douglas Whitbread
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Walmart faces trouble on the horizon as the Trump administration's tariffs are set to hit its imports from China and drive up prices.
The retail chain recorded robust sales and profits as inflation-hit shoppers flocked to its stores last year. However, the company's outlook for 2025 falls short of analyst projections by as much as 27 cents per share, while its quarterly expectations are up to 7 cents below Wall Street forecasts.
Most mass-market sellers in U.S. keep their costs down by shipping cheap Chinese-made goods to the US, where they are bought by local consumers. However, on February 1, Donald Trump imposed a 10% tariff on items imported from the Asian country.
Perhaps even more damaging, the president also suspended a little-known trade exemption known as “de minimis”. This had allowed over a billion packages worth less than $800 to come into the U.S. duty-free last year.
Despite this, Walmart has some protection against tariff threats, with groceries - which make up about 60% of its U.S. business - largely unaffected by goods made in China or elsewhere. Nevertheless, shares fell nearly 9% before Thursday's opening bell, dragging other major retailers down with it.
The retail sector was the biggest loser in premarket trading, with Target sliding 2%. Walmart, as one of the first major U.S. retailers to disclose quarterly earnings, could offer insights into American consumer sentiment, especially with new trade barriers potentially reigniting inflation. Over the past year, shoppers have pivoted towards essentials over luxury items like TVs and furniture due to rising credit and grocery costs
Walmart has thrived in this climate by leveraging its influence to maintain low prices, capturing more market share, particularly among households earning above $100,000. The retail giant's online platform and Walmart + membership have attracted a wealthier clientele.
"We have momentum driven by our low prices, a growing assortment, and an eCommerce business driven by faster delivery times," CEO Doug McMillon remarked. "We're gaining market share, our top line is healthy, and we're in great shape with inventory."
However, Walmart may face hurdles with the new tariffs posing greater economic threats than those during Trump's presidency. Economists warn that if Americans experience another round of price hikes, with consumer spending driving 70% of the U.S. economy, a widespread reduction in expenditure could impact more than just Walmart's revenue.
Last week, government data showed a significant drop in January retail sales as chilly weather kept more Americans at home. The decline was larger than economists had predicted and marked the biggest dip in a year. Despite this, grocery prices continued to climb, hitting American households hard. Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, posted earnings of $5.25 billion, or 65 cents per share, for the quarter ending on January 31.
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The promised Trump tariffs will lead to another trade war that will push prices higher and cost the economy nearly a million jobs.
But low-income voters, who will be the first affected by the higher prices and the job losses, still sided with Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, because they let themselves be convinced that he’s better on the economy.
“Even though the economy is doing much better than it was two years ago, people don’t feel like they’re doing better,” said Virginia Tech economic expert Jadrian Wooten.
Which means they don’t remember the impact of the trade war that Trump initiated in 2018. The tariffs at the heart of that pushed GDP down a full point, according to several independent analyses, and were particularly disastrous for the agricultural sector, which required more than $12 billion in bailouts to keep the farm industry afloat.
But Fox News didn’t remind you of that, and four and five and six years ago, that’s a long time to remember how a guy with no business sense did his level best to screw up the good thing that he’d been handed by the Barack Obama administration.
What low-income voters impacted most by the post-pandemic inflation remember is, those were tough times, and more recent.
“While the technical measures — things like GDP growth, inflation, and unemployment rates — have been showing improvement over the past two years, a lot of people’s day-to-day experiences are telling them something completely different,” Wooten said.
According to exit poll data, 45 percent of people with total family income under $30,000 voted for Trump, and Trump got 53 percent of the vote of people with household incomes between $30,000 and $50,000.
Extrapolating from that data, that’s 20.6 million votes – more than a quarter of the total overall who voted for Trump – from people in households that make less than $50,000 a year.
Trump won this demographic by 3.5 million votes.
By the time the final count is done in California, his margin overall in the popular vote is going to be in the range of just under 3 million votes.
His margin of victory came with low-income voters.
You can guess who will be the first ones to feel the effects of the next Trump tariffs.
