As voters headed to the polls for Tuesday’s midterm elections, concerns about the cost of living were weighing heavily on their decisions.
A survey conducted Oct. 9–12 found that six in 10 voters considered living costs their biggest economic concern. In the same poll, 74% rated the economy negatively, 53% expected it to worsen over the coming year, and only 18% said their family was better off than two years earlier.
Inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The latest consumer price index showed prices were up 3.7% from a year earlier in September. Gasoline was a major driver, rising 9.1% over the month and costing 34.2% more than a year before.
Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said gas prices can have an outsized effect on how people judge affordability. Fuel is only one part of a household budget, he noted, but it is a cost people track closely, sometimes down to a fraction of a cent.
Lieberman added that without the Iran war, gasoline prices might have been lower and public perceptions of the economy better.
Although inflation has cooled from its post-pandemic peak of 9.1% in June 2022, Lieberman said consumers should not expect prices to return to where they were before the surge. Instead, he said, prices have settled at a higher level, leaving many people feeling the squeeze at the grocery store even when the overall inflation rate is less severe.
That pressure can mean cutting back elsewhere. Lieberman pointed to households scaling down vacation plans as one example.
Olivia Mitchell, an economics and public policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, described affordability as a central issue in the midterms. She said it presents a political challenge for Republicans, who campaigned on lowering prices and improving people’s financial well-being.
Inflation, Mitchell said, has picked up again after declining from its 2022 peak. It fell to 2.3% in 2025 and stood at 2.4% in January 2026, before climbing to 3.7%.
Families are also dealing with high mortgage and auto loan rates, credit card balances, and other consumer debt, Mitchell said. Those expenses make it harder to rebuild savings or prepare for retirement.
She said tariffs are adding to the cost of many everyday goods and contributing to consumer frustration, which could show up in the election results. The affordability debate, she added, will require policymakers to explain more clearly how their plans could improve households’ financial security, rather than relying on broad claims about economic growth.
