LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump is camping in the Nevada desert Thursday to celebrate one of his signature economic promises — “no tax on tips” — a policy designed as a lifeline for this city of long odds and last chances.
For the working-class backbone of Las Vegas, that relief has been welcomed — and not enough.
“Gas prices are high. That’s just part of it,” said Wayne, a 66-year-old shoeshine man from North Las Vegas who declined to give his last name. “When you go to buy steak, it used to be $4.99 a pound. And now it’s $9.99.”
He said, “What can you do? You just have to live with it.”
The president’s stops in Las Vegas and Arizona this week are his latest effort to reassert a narrative of strength — despite the Iran war and past changes that have failed to stem his decline in the polls.
But the White House believes it will get off the ground. Trump will focus on a “no tax on tips” policy that the administration says was inspired by a Las Vegas waitress; The White House is celebrating more tax refunds than usual around Tax Day; And the sweeping economic promises of his “One Big Beautiful Bill,” according to a White House official granted anonymity to speak candidly.
It’s a reset the president’s allies strongly want to see — representing a break from the Iran war in a place away from the Beltway, where Trump can connect with real Americans, as he will at a roundtable in downtown Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon. But they admit that he needs to work harder.
“He needs to give them hope that things are going to get better – that he has a pro-growth agenda, and they will be better off with his policies,” said John McLaughlin, a longtime Trump pollster who carried Nevada for the president during the 2024 campaign.
The trouble for Trump is that less than seven months before the election, many Americans are not feeling that optimism, and many economic indicators are trending in the wrong direction.
Few places epitomize that contradiction between what the White House is selling and what average workers are experiencing more than Las Vegas. The city, run by the working-class and Latino coalition that helped elect Trump in 2024, is particularly dependent on tourism and discretionary income from the sudden increase in gas prices.
“The reality is that for a lot of people, (the refunds) are going to be a buffer against what they’re putting in their gas tank,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Federal Reserve economist and creator of the recession indicator Sahm Rule.
The University of Michigan’s closely watched consumer sentiment index recently fell to its lowest level on record, underscoring the disconnect between key economic data and how Americans say they feel about their finances.
And Democrats are more than happy to take advantage of that opportunity. As the president travels to Nevada, he plans to highlight the temporary nature of its “no tax on tips” policy, which expires after tax year 2028. But mostly, he says, the effects of the president’s policies are self-evident on the ground.
“It’s sad to say that I don’t need to talk a lot and send a lot of messages because citizens are realizing it,” Daniel Monroe-Moreno, chair of the Nevada state Democratic Party, said in an interview. “The story speaks for itself.”
Nevadans are far from the only ones concerned about the economy. A survey conducted by YouGov and The Economist released on 14 April 70 percent of those surveyed rated the economy as “fair or bad.”
Hunter Blankenship, 26, a cocktail server at the Peppermill restaurant and Fireside Lounge at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip, got a $2,500 tax refund this year, when he usually gets about $300. But he says business has slowed since he started working at the restaurant at 18 — and people no longer tip like they used to.
“I can do better. Where I have money, I make enough to pay all my bills. But I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily able to save as much as I want to,” Blankenship said. “I’m where I’m doing everything right but I’m not necessarily able to prepare myself for the future.”
In Washington, White House aides argue that the benefits of the GOP megalaw enacted last year were never meant to be a one-time benefit like a refund check. Instead, they should stir up the economy through other provisions focused on boosting long-term businesses, translating into more discretionary income for everyone.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said, “President Trump’s proven agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and energy abundance delivered historic job, wage and economic growth in his first term – as well as the first decline in wealth and income inequality in decades.” “Americans can rest assured that this same agenda is laying the groundwork for even more historic success in Trump’s second presidency.”
A handful of Nevadans who have benefited from the administration’s policies, including no tax on tips and overtime, are expected to attend the White House event Thursday.
And a lot is riding on this political moment. Trump carried the state in 2024 — the first time in two decades a Republican presidential candidate won Nevada — driven by a working-class and Latino coalition needed to retain Joe Lombardo, who is running for reelection as governor. This race will be a key test of whether the president’s working-class coalition can survive in 2026.
But the economic conditions the coalition is going through, along with immigration enforcement actions, have complicated the party’s prospects, especially as Trump’s war on affordability message has come to dominate the national conversation.
Here Republicans were quick to note that Biden-era inflation has left a wound. But his own voters sent Trump to Washington to fix it — and even earlier this year they were skeptical that the economy was improving. Now, the war has made that matter even more difficult.
In a state where independent voters often decide elections, disappointment has great political significance.
“On a partisan basis, it’s falling about where you might expect. But when it comes to voters in the middle, it’s more along the lines of … ‘Things have been bad for so long, we’ve been feeling the pinch for so long,'” said one Nevada GOP operative, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly. “There’s disappointment because there were a lot of hopes and expectations that prices would go down under the president, but I think “It’s that they’re angry that it’s lasted so long.”
The operator said polling shows the president is “definitely losing a little bit” with working-class voters.
“I’ve seen conflicting data about whether he’s sending them back to the Dems or whether he’s taking them out of participation,” the person said. “I’ve seen data that suggests both — but I’ve seen more data suggest (people say) ‘I’m just going to stay home.'”
