Welcome to US politics live. I’m Shrai Popat and I’ll be bringing you the latest from Washington and beyond.

We start today with a new poll from Politico that shows two particularly important statistics. Almost half of Americans find their monthly bills (from groceries, to healthcare, to utilities) difficult to afford. While 55% of Americans blame the Trump administration for high prices at the grocery store.

This data comes after Donald Trump held the first rally-style event in a tour to tout his self-proclaimed success in bringing down the cost of living.

In a winding, 90-minute speech in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, the president called affordability a “hoax” (a stance he’s repeated in recent weeks) and bashed Democrats and his predecessor, Joe Biden, for high prices. “We’re bringing them down,” he insisted on Tuesday evening.

Trump also claimed he was “crushing” inflation, and “inflation is stopped”. While inflation declined from an annual rate of 3% in January to 2.9% in August, it has remained ahead of the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Politico’s poll also had more telling numbers about specific instances where Americans are having to forego vital services: 27 %, said they have skipped a medical check-up because of costs within the last two years, and 23 % said they have skipped a prescription dose for the same reason.