As Americans head to the polls Tuesday, some political differences are more pronounced than ever. But across the country, one feeling is nearly unanimous: Life is too expensive.
We spoke to six voters in key battleground states about how they’re making it work at a time when the cost of many essentials — gas, housing, groceries, child care — is going up.
All were finding ways to scrimp. A farmer in Iowa put off buying a new combine harvester. A nanny in Maine checks everything that goes into her grocery cart. A retiree in North Carolina has cut back on the dinner gatherings she loves to host.
Some said the rising cost of living has swayed their vote. A Native Alaskan artist who has supported Republicans in the past is instead voting for a Democrat for Senate. A retiree in Texas, a longtime Republican, split his ticket to protest higher prices.
“We have to face the reality that we live in,” said Michael Fusella, a recent college graduate in Florida. “Everything costs more. Everything is a lot harder than it used to be.”
Dorothy Brown, 81, of North Carolina
Dorothy Brown has always loved hosting a crowd.
The retired schoolteacher who moved to Charlotte two decades ago has invited an eclectic, steady procession of people to her table. But soaring grocery prices have prompted her to scale back significantly.
“I can’t afford to give away food in the amount that I would normally have,” Brown said of her beloved hosting efforts. Visitors are still welcome, she insisted, but inflation has put a damper on her instinctive hospitality.
Brown said the issue of affordability is at the top of her mind as she heads to the polls this November. She is also motivated by concerns over the war in Iran, aggressive immigration enforcement, the targeting of diversity and equity initiatives, and what she sees as the erosion of decency in politics.
A registered Democrat, Brown has voted for candidates from both parties in the past. “In a lot of ways, I’m an independent,” Brown said of her political leanings. She plans to vote for Democrat Roy Cooper in her state’s pivotal U.S. Senate race because she admires his track record as North Carolina governor.
Ellie Pierotti, 30, of Maine
Ellie Pierotti considers herself fortunate: She’s earning more money than she has at any point in her life. She can afford her own apartment and recently took out a loan on a new car.
Yet she can’t quite get ahead.
The price of everything — housing, groceries, gas — keeps rising. Recent health challenges left her struggling with unpaid medical bills. She has more than $60,000 in student loans.
“It’s never felt like I’ve not had the money stuff weighing on me,” said Pierotti, who earns $75,000 as a full-time nanny to two toddlers. “Even working in a good job where you’re making money.”
When Pierotti, a consistent Democratic voter, goes to the polls in November, she’ll be thinking about the cost of living, but even more about the direction of the country and the state. In Maine’s crucial Senate race, she plans to vote for Troy Jackson, the Democratic challenger to Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent who is seeking her sixth term.
Michael Fusella, 21, of Florida
Michael Fusella supported President Donald Trump for nearly a decade — starting around age 12.
Passionate about politics since high school, Fusella regularly debated fellow students about immigration and gun rights. He was finally old enough to cast his first ballot for Trump in 2024 and “would have voted for him in 2020 and 2016 if I could,” he said.
But as the war with Iran drags on and the cost of living continues to climb, the registered Republican said he feels betrayed by a president who said he’d end overseas conflicts and lower prices.
He’s among the 65 percent of American adults who say they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, including about 1 in 3 Republicans, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll.
Still, Fusella said he’ll back Republican candidates in most Florida races. He plans to skip the governor’s race, however, citing his dislike of Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly. Fusella said he feels Donalds’s campaign has been dismissive of younger voters, but he is “definitely not voting Democrat either.”
Apay’uq Moore, 42, of Alaska
Living a traditional lifestyle inspired by centuries-old practices in Alaska requires a lot of modern fuel. Heating fuel to warm a remote village home through the bone-chilling winters. Gas to fly in everything that cannot be caught or harvested locally. Fuel for the boat to hunt the moose and the plane to reach the annual salmon harvest.
For Apay’uq Moore and her partner, Jon Salmon, living off meat and fish they catch themselves once felt like a way to economize. Now, with gas prices soaring because of the U.S. war with Iran, it feels barely doable.
“People have all these different ways of saving money. Ours is by trying to harvest our own food,” Moore said. “But this year, the cost of everything has definitely made it feel like we’re benefiting spiritually from our way of life, but financially, now it’s starting to cost us more.”
With a life so rooted in hunting, Moore cares fiercely about gun rights, which has led her to favor Republican candidates in the past. Other times, she has supported Democrats, in part because of her distaste for President Donald Trump’s ethics. This year, she is firmly siding with Democrat Mary Peltola in Alaska’s Senate race, primarily because of the issue of affordability. The race is one of the most competitive in the country and considered key to deciding which political party will control the U.S. Senate.
Peltola is Alaska Native and spent much of her childhood in small villages. Her Republican opponent, Sen. Dan Sullivan, moved to Anchorage as an adult after growing up in the Cleveland suburbs and graduating from Harvard and Georgetown universities. Moore doesn’t trust him to understand how fuel costs shape her daily life.
Aaron Lehman, 58, of Iowa
Aaron Lehman is harvesting corn and soybeans on his Iowa farm using a combine that’s almost as old as his 26-year-old son, Benjamin.
The machine has already outlived its typical 15- to 20-year lifespan, and eventually it’ll need to be replaced.
“But we’re not going to do that,” Lehman said. “We put off that decision a while ago when we saw all these other costs going up.”
He’s president of the Iowa Farmers Union and has always supported Democrats, even as his state shifted to the right over the past decade. The 1,100-member union generally sticks to policy and advisory roles but this year it endorsed Democrats in all five federal races — four House and one Senate — for the first time in recent memory. Republicans hold all five seats.
Lehman is backing Josh Turek for Senate, Sarah Trone Garriott for the House, and Rob Sand for governor — all Democrats.
Gary Podbielski, 67, of Texas
For the first time since Gary Podbielski moved to Texas during the 1981 oil boom, fresh out of tech school and the U.S. Air National Guard, he got rid of his truck.
“I don’t miss the gas mileage,” the retired IT professional and longtime Republican from New York said, noting his leased Kia Telluride gets about 27 miles per gallon.
Podbielski sees gas prices increasing the cost of nearly everything else. He’s adjusting his thermostat, canceling cable and shopping sales on bargain beef.
He describes himself as “purple.” Podbielski never voted for President Donald Trump, whom he said he dislikes. George W. Bush was the last Republican who won his vote for president. He didn’t like former president Joe Biden’s border security policies, was “an anti-Hillary person,” but he voted for former president Barack Obama.
This election, Podbielski voted early, splitting his ticket. He voted for Democrats James Talarico for U.S. Senate and Gina Hinojosa for governor and Republicans for local offices. He thinks other Republicans will make similar protest votes.
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