An issue Democratic and Republican voters can agree on: the rent — and the price of everything else — is too damn high.
A “blunami” of Democratic wins swept the US as Americans cast their votes in the midterm elections, with affordability top of mind. Gas prices are high, inflation is exacerbated by the war in Iran, and cost-of-living concerns persist. And those wallet weights helped decide control of the House and Senate, with Democrats flipping key seats and gaining projected majorities in both chambers.
“House Democrats are committed to fighting for an affordable America,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who will likely become Speaker of the House in January, said in a Tuesday night speech. “We will fight hard to lower the high cost of housing and groceries and gas.”
NBC’s early exit poll results highlighted voters’ affordability concerns. Two percent of all voters thought the economy was in “excellent” condition; 59% of voters said they were “very concerned” about the cost of gas, and 88% said they were “very or somewhat concerned” about the cost of groceries. Those results are tentative and will be updated as vote tallies continue rolling in.
Additionally, 89% of voters said the cost of living was a “crucial or major” factor when selecting a candidate.
And when voters in those preliminary exit polls were asked to choose which issue was the most important facing the country, the largest share answered the economy.
Economic worries were brewing ahead of the election: Half of voters said that the economy was “extremely important” to their vote this year, according to a pre-election Gallup poll of registered voters conducted October 1-19; 37% said it was “very important.”
Jon Ossoff, who won his Senate reelection on Tuesday night, emphasized the economic challenges Americans face. He said in his victory speech that families are “working harder and harder while the treadmill just gets faster and steeper and the bills get higher and higher.”
He added that “for too many, homeownership’s a fantasy” and that “health care has never cost more.”
James Talarico, the Democratic Senator-elect in Texas, said that his win was “for every teacher and every nurse, for every farmer and every rancher, for every young person who’s trying to buy a home, for every parent who’s trying to put food on the table.”
Candidates across the aisle took on voters’ affordability concerns on the campaign trail. Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate in Texas, had an economics-focused message before the election: “I believe every Texan should be able to buy a home, raise a family, and live a healthy life without struggling to make ends meet.”
Across swing state races, candidates have spoken about how gas, energy, electricity, and housing costs have weighed on their constituents. In Maine, both Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic opponent Troy Jackson have spoken about the impact of tariffs on costs for local products.
That messaging makes sense: Heading into the midterms, inflation and affordability were top of mind across the aisle. Among voters surveyed by Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll before the election on October 24 through 26, 38% — the highest share among different issues — said that price increases, inflation, and affordability were the most important issues facing the country; 40% of likely midterm voters said it was the most important. Similarly, voters across all parties — and those who were likely to vote in the midterms — said inflation and affordability were personally important to them.
While Trump called the affordability crisis a “hoax” last year, he has since touted himself as the “affordability president” and said he is bringing prices down for Americans.
But with the next inflation reading looming, and a relatively frozen labor market, high prices and jobs feel increasingly important to Americans — and the election might just show how important they are.
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