WASHINGTON — Affordability is the runaway top concern for battleground Senate race voters heading into the midterms, and no other issue is even close, a massive grassroots survey found.
Focus on affordability dwarfed all other issues that voters raised combined, including immigration, energy, healthcare, crime, education, and national security, according to Americans for Prosperity’s “Americans Unscripted” report shared exclusively with The Post.
Over 42,844 voters were sampled on the ground in the seven top Senate races by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group, via door knocks and other means.
“Republicans should be concerned about the cost of living,” Katelyn Bledsoe, vice president of external affairs for Americans for Prosperity, told The Post. “We’re seeing this over and over again.”
“Groceries are too expensive, gas too expensive. Health care is too expensive. But don’t get me wrong, Republicans did make some strides this Congress,” she said. “But more needs to be done right now.”
The GOP has widely been seen as the underdog in the midterm battle for control of the House, while the Senate is more of a jump ball contest between the two sides.
Democrats have been pummeling Republicans very hard on affordability since President Trump’s return to the White House. Over time, the issue has grown even more salient for voters.
In June, 51.7% of voters surveyed by the conservative group named the cost of living, while in July, 56.2% similarly named the economy and inflation.
The July findings showed that the economy and inflation dwarfed immigration (10.2%), energy and gas costs (9.3%), healthcare (8.9%), government accountability (8.6%), crime (4.3%), education (2.3%), and national security (0.2%) as voters’ top concerns.
Voters in Alaska, Iowa, Montana, Ohio, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Michigan were surveyed by Americans for Prosperity, which has a constant presence on the ground in those competitive states.
Of those states, Alaska had the highest percent of voters (74.4%) who named affordability as their top issue.
“My grocery bill is up to $300 a week feeding my teenagers,” a man named Donald from Londonderry, New Hampshire, vented to one of the group’s volunteers.
One potential silver lining for Republicans that Americans for Prosperity found is that voters have concerns about the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and often believe government is a driving force behind the affordability issue.
Citing a survey it did earlier this year, the group noted that 73% of respondents believe the government contributes to soaring prices and 61% felt that Uncle Sam makes life harder.
The group also pointed to a Gallup poll finding that 81% of Americans have a favorable view of free markets compared to 39% who see socialism favorably. Typically the term “free market” polls better than the word “capitalism.”
“I’m very concerned about democratic socialists and how far their principles are from our founding fathers,” a man named Patrick from Auburn Hills, Mich., told the group.
Americans for Prosperity, a long-standing grassroots group that helped fuel the tea-party movement that combatted then-President Barack Obama, plans to continue conducting similar studies and surveys of voters in critical battleground states heading into the Nov. 3 elections.
