How Rising Prices Are Shaping Voters’ Choices One Week Before the Midterms

One week before the midterm elections, rising prices are one of the biggest worries for many American voters, and they could affect which party controls Congress, according to ABC News. President Donald Trump promised to bring costs down, but inflation has continued.

ABC News reported that consumer prices have risen faster than paychecks over the past 12 months, leaving the average family worse off.

What higher prices mean in daily life

ABC News said filling up a basic Ford F-150 truck now costs about $100, up $30 from a year ago. Mortgage rates have climbed to levels that have weighed on home sales. Record-high diesel prices have pushed up shipping and farming costs.

Voters interviewed by ABC described the strain in concrete terms. Misty Reeder, 48, of Easley, South Carolina, said rent on the home she and her husband have rented for six years has gone up by hundreds of dollars. Beti Rosales, 47, who runs a Mexican restaurant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, said limes, avocados and even plumbing work cost more than before.

Why it matters politically

Trump said during his 2024 campaign that he would end inflation, ABC News noted. Inflation stood at 3% when he took office and reached 3.7% last month, the report said. Trump has said inflation is under 2% and “under control.” He has called the word “affordability” a con job by Democrats, and says interest rates and oil prices will fall once the war with Iran ends.

Many voters say they blame Trump’s tariff policies and the war, which ABC described as unpopular. Rosales said she gave Trump and Republicans a chance two years ago hoping for relief, but felt prices got worse and is now considering voting Democratic. Sandra Capell, 69, who voted Republican, said she wants to see change on the economy.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told ABC that people talk first about costs and also about pay failing to keep pace, calling it a double whammy. Stephen Moore, who has advised Trump on the economy, said Republicans may pay a high price for the effects of the Iran situation.

Where Republicans are exposed

ABC News reported that the cost pressures are creating trouble for Republicans in typically conservative states such as Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Texas, where Democrats appear competitive. Democrats are using the cost of living to pressure vulnerable Republicans, including in districts Trump won by double digits.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat seeking reelection, told a rally in Atlanta that it costs more than ever to fill a truck, stock a fridge or power a home. In New York, Democrat Cait Conley is challenging Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, one of his party’s most vulnerable incumbents, and is pointing to his earlier advice to voters to let gas and grocery prices inform their decision.

The wider economic picture

ABC News said that in less than two years Trump has remade the U.S. economy, imposing double-digit tariffs on many trading partners, signing broad income tax cuts and taking government stakes in several dozen private companies. Economic growth has continued and unemployment is low, but inflation has overshadowed those gains, according to the report.

Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 under President Joe Biden, a figure Trump used against Democrats in 2024.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News