{"id":97162,"date":"2026-11-02T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=97162"},"modified":"2026-11-01T15:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T22:35:37","slug":"a-midterm-campaign-dominated-by-concerns-over-high-prices-nears-its-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/a-midterm-campaign-dominated-by-concerns-over-high-prices-nears-its-end\/","title":{"rendered":"A midterm campaign dominated by concerns over high prices nears its end"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Financial concerns have been the most pressing issue for voters in four of the six previous midterm elections of this century. But with the war in Iran and tariffs driving up gas prices, inflation and mortgage rates, the worries feel deeper, more desperate and decidedly center stage in the final days of the hard-fought campaign that will decide control of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats are hammering President Trump for starting a war with Iran and instituting tariffs that have driven up prices, while Republicans are insisting the fundamentals of the economy are stronger than before they took power two years ago. And polls show that pocketbook issues are once again top of mind for many voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If presidential elections are about a vision for the future, midterms give voters a chance to offer their verdict on a president, a Congress and, almost always, the nation\u2019s economic health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over dozens of interviews across the country in recent days, Americans from across the political spectrum detailed the financial gymnastics of keeping pace with rent hikes and mounting utility bills, along with rising prices for gas, groceries and even Halloween candy. Many voters directly blamed Mr. Trump and his party for the high cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe prices of everything we normally buy have gone up and up dramatically,\u201d said Dwayne Stanford, a father of eight in suburban Cincinnati, who chose only Democratic candidates during early voting in his state. \u201cIt\u2019s just the everyday stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s feeling it in terms of inflation,\u201d said Bret Rhodus, 52, an independent voter from Douglas County, Kan. \u201cCollege costs, because I\u2019m kind of in that stage of life. But even, like, the price of a pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s expensive,\u201d said Sophia Gallerani, 80, a retiree who said she cast her ballot for the Republican ticket on the first day of early voting in Tucson, Ariz. \u201cBasic needs like eating and gas for getting to appointments if I have any or going to church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worries of voters, which cross lines of generation and gender, race and political ideology, reflect the anxieties of a country convinced that the American dream is slipping away. In polls, focus groups and interviews, voters described some of the traditional promises of a middle-class life \u2014 health care, a college education, homeownership and retirement \u2014 as becoming rapidly unaffordable. They fear their children will live a worse life than they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a degree, I have a good job, but it is still a stretch to pay for basics like groceries and utilities,\u201d said Brandi Kelly, 43, of Dayton, Ohio. \u201cIt is harder to just maintain what we have had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidents often shoulder the blame \u2014 and occasionally the credit \u2014 for an American economy that they have limited ability to directly control. But Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former chief economist for President George W. Bush\u2019s Council of Economic Advisers and current president of the conservative American Action Forum, said that old political maxim doesn\u2019t totally apply when it comes to Mr. Trump and some of the signature policies of his administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war with Iran raised gas prices, and tariffs made foreign goods more expensive for U.S. purchasers. The rising costs have outpaced workers\u2019 hourly wages, according to the government, compounding the financial stress already felt by many American families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe standard of living is declining and people know that,\u201d Mr. Holtz-Eakin said. \u201cThe nature of these actions have really allowed voters to blame him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats have driven a message of blaming Mr. Trump for the high costs. Expanding on a theme of \u201caffordability\u201d that the party rode to success in the races for governor in 2025, Democratic candidates and their allies have spent nearly a half-billion dollars on ads mentioning the economy, prices and inflation, according to AdImpact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Maine, Troy Jackson, the Democratic Senate nominee, has transformed surging heating oil costs into a central line of attack against Senator Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In North Carolina, former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic Senate nominee, has spent weeks on a \u201cMake Stuff Cost Less\u201d campaign tour, introducing plans to lower the price of food, health care, utilities, child care and housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in Texas, supporters of Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, wave money-green signs with one of her central campaign promises: \u201cMoney in your pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in races dominated by questions of character and corruption, Democrats have steadfastly returned to high costs as the central building block of their political argument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t afford the basics in this economy \u2014 gas, groceries, utilities, health care \u2014 because the system has been rigged by billionaires and crooked politicians like Ken Paxton,\u201d James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, told a cheering crowd at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas on Thursday evening, referring to his Republican opponent. \u201cThis election is about whether you want a senator who puts money in your pocket or money in their own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he crisscrosses the country on a whirlwind campaign tour, Mr. Trump has tried to argue that the economy is strong, growing and rife with new investment. Markets are riding high, consumers are continuing to spend and gross domestic product is increasing, according to recent measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as Mr. Trump\u2019s predecessor, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., learned during his term in office, voters don\u2019t care how government reports assess the economy. They care how it feels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe problem is that the one metric people use to judge the economy is gas prices,\u201d said Steve Moore, a conservative economist who advised Mr. Trump\u2019s first presidential campaign. \u201cYou see it wherever you go, with a big sign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of Mr. Trump\u2019s most devoted supporters continue to profess their loyalty, even as they describe enduring economic pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brenda Pruitt, a three-time voter for Mr. Trump, said she had spent more than $100 on gasoline to drive to Ohio from Kentucky to see the president and other Republican candidates speak at a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, on Wednesday,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling the inflation, but I\u2019m willing to take less in order to help the American people,\u201d Ms. Pruitt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the rally, Mr. Trump touted the performance of the stock market and higher incomes while blaming Democrats for voting for policies that led to higher prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey voted in favor of the worst inflation and highest energy costs in American history,\u201d Mr. Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s an argument Mr. Trump spent much of 2024 making. More than any other issue, his rise into the White House was fueled by attacks on Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for high inflation and promises to lower soaring prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years later, with inflation rising once again, large numbers of voters have shifted blame to Mr. Trump. Views of his handling of the economy \u2014 one of his biggest strengths when he ran on two years ago \u2014 are now underwater. Majorities disapprove of his handling of tariffs, the economy, gas prices, the cost of living and the Iran war. Fifty-three percent of likely voters considered the economy as \u201cpoor\u201d in the recent New York Times\/Siena poll \u2014 the worst rating since July 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Trump promised to lower inflation; it\u2019s now accelerated to 3.7 percent. He vowed mortgage rates would return to as low as 2 percent. They are currently above 7 percent. And surging fuel prices have increased the costs for farmers, truckers and consumers to heat their homes, plow their fields and commute to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican efforts to defend the president\u2019s policies, despite growing anger from voters, have fueled Democratic optimism in some surprising places. A clip posted in February of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican from Mississippi, responding to concerns about rising beef prices by saying consumers \u201chave so many proteins to choose from,\u201d helped transform her race in a deep red state into a competitive contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her opponent, Scott Colom, has gained ground with a simple slogan: \u201cHigh wages, lower costs, save our health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kansas, Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican, was slow to respond to the rising costs of fertilizer, fuel and feed that have hammered farmers and ranchers in his agriculture-heavy state. The race, which was not on either party\u2019s list of battleground states last year, is now considered one of the most competitive in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is one of the best economies I\u2019ve ever seen in my lifetime,\u201d Mr. Marshall said at a campaign stop last month. \u201cWe just have to get the price of gas and groceries down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House has tried to find ways to offer consumers some relief, announcing a series of policies in the final weeks of the campaign that included $90 payouts for millions of seniors on Medicare, $500 rebate checks for some Affordable Care Act customers and a decision to allow Russian diesel imports after years of sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Trump has also promised a $5,000 check to every American adult if his party retains control of Congress in November. The plan would require congressional approval and cost more than $1 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for many people, such policies are coming too late to affect their finances \u2014 or their votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Carmen Moreno, 50, waited to hear Mr. Talarico address the crowd in Dallas, she expressed astonishment at the increase in the cost of food. A recent trip to Denny\u2019s with her mother cost $63, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Moreno, an entrepreneur, is hopeful Mr. Talarico and a Democratic-controlled Congress can help restore an American middle class that she worries is slipping away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are living in a time with a lot of economic distress,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s just a total lack of accountably in Congress right now. Like, what is going on?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n