CHICAGO, Illinois, October 28, 2026 — As midterms days away—Candidates across the country are building their final arguments around one topic. This cycle, voters rate the cost of living and health care as higher priorities than almost any other issue. And that shift is reflected in campaign events during the last stretch, as both parties sprint to lay claim to the affordability message. National public opinion polls and voter priority tracking reports published by the Pew Research Center analyze key issues driving the electorate during midterm elections.
Affordability Tops Voter Concerns
Health care costs and gas prices top the list of voter worries among a recent KFF Health Tracking Poll. Approximately 60% of voters reported worrying about paying for their healthcare. Roughly half said it was very important for candidates to address those costs directly to voters while campaigning. Healthcare cost tracking surveys and policy analyses published by KFF evaluate voter sentiment on prescription drugs and medical expenses.
Heading into the vote, voters are also concerned about costs for food, utilities and housing. Grocery prices were mentioned by just over half of respondents, with utilities next on the list. Candidates running in competitive districts have embraced those numbers, building their platforms around the everyday price tag of goods and services rather than a more abstract debate over policy.
Healthcare becomes a defining issue
Similarly, healthcare costs are the second most important issue for voters behind the broader cost of living people want candidates to address. Almost half of voters stated it is very important for candidates to discuss rising healthcare costs in particular. Subsidies that reduce the cost of premiums for Affordable Care Act coverage are expiring, and they are emerging as a flashpoint in campaigns throughout a handful of swing states.
This cycle, polling indicates that voters are much more likely to trust Democrats than Republicans on healthcare issues. And Republican candidates in must-win districts have been forced to play defense over votes on deep Medicaid cuts and the cutting off of subsidies. Both parties acknowledge the matter will drive voter turnout, even as they spar over solutions.
The argument is still (at least, under the auspices of how the discussion is bordering to flow) economic growth
In addition to immediate costs, candidates also frame their platforms in terms of longer-run growth and employment. National education surveys show the economy remains one of, if not the single most important issue for the vast majority of voters deciding where to cast votes this year. This concern overrides party lines, bringing together voters who may not agree on anything else. Macroeconomic indicators and employment trend reviews published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics track national economic growth and labor market conditions.
Economists and political analysts point out that worry about affordability has been unusually consistent, even amid changing headlines this year. But the candidates who seem to be connecting best with voters, it should be noted for the umpteenth time, are those who talk about how their policies alleviate people’s day-to-day economic pressures rather than just recycling national talking points. That would be a trend that has influenced messaging strategies across House and Senate races this year.
That as voters go to the polls:
Strategists from both sides expect affordability rhetoric to ramp up in the days leading up to Nov. 3. In these final days of campaigning, the ads are focusing less on ideology than on grocery bills, prescription costs and gas prices. That change mirrors an electorate with its mind focused solely on economic matters.
Vote in competitive districts will likely depend upon which party voters believe is most trustworthy on these essential issues of relief. With healthcare and affordability front-and-center in the discussion, what could likely follow are clear showings of which economic message had staying power. Analysts say that the final numbers will be closely monitored far into the future: beyond this election cycle.
It seems particularly true during this cycle where independent voters weigh cost-of-living messaging more than who they are loyal to. Polls indicate a sizable portion of independents assign neither party primary authority on health-care costs, giving the incoming nominee more opportunity. That uncertainty puts a premium on messaging about affordability, particularly in competitive districts.
This election cycle has seen the inclusion of local matters into larger national cost-of-living debates. Candidates in districts with older populations are hitting on drug prices, while those in districts with many young families have been focused on childcare. Adapting the larger affordability message to address regional issues has become a standard approach across competitive races.
But the total amount of advertising on affordability has spiked compared to prior midterm cycles, as Election Day approaches. Analysts measuring advertising spending noted a shift away from ideological messaging in 2020 toward specific dollar-value claims about what it costs a household. Time will tell if that strategy is fruitful at the polls come November 3, when votes are tallied. Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports and media tracking studies published by the Federal Election Commission examine political advertising expenditures and total campaign spending.
