Candidates running for office this year and next are focusing specifically on \u201caffordability,\u201d a broader economic issue distinct from jobs, wages, and, more recently, inflation.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s Democrats like New York City\u2019s socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani or centrist Virginia gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger, or Republicans like New Jersey gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli or New Jersey Senate contender Scott Brown\u2014along with others on the ballot this year or next\u2014\u201caffordability\u201d is dominating the campaign trail. Housing seems to be<\/a> a key driver of voters\u2019 anxiety, but Democratic and Republican strategists agree the unease extends beyond high rents and expensive mortgages.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it was just groceries and gas it was inflation, but now that housing, power bills, education and about everything else is higher and staying higher, it is about life being unaffordable,\u201d said a Republican strategist in a swing state. \u201cPeople feel stuck. They are working hard and have a good job but things are just out of reach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Working Class Project<\/a>, an effort by Democratic operatives to improve the party\u2019s prospects with blue-collar voters, nodded to something similar in an analysis of<\/a> a recent round of focus groups: \u201cWorking class voters remain very concerned about affordability and generally believe costs have not gone down.\u201d<\/p>\n In a mid-July poll<\/a> from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, a majority of American adults (53 percent) were \u201cstressed\u201d about the cost of groceries. Forty-seven percent expressed similar feelings about housing costs, and 42 percent said they were anxious about affording health insurance. In a late July YouGov poll<\/a> for The Economist, \u201cinflation\/prices\u201d led the list of voters\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n Deserved or not, presidents often get the blame for a turbulent economy, so it\u2019s understandable that with Donald Trump in the White House, Democrats are leading their agendas with proposals aimed at remedying the high cost of living. They\u2019re hoping to recapture the Virginia governor\u2019s mansion this November and win control of Congress 12 months later. \u201cVirginians are already being squeezed by high prices\u2014and these reckless tariffs are doing nothing to make life more affordable,\u201d Spanberger said Friday in a statement responding to Trump\u2019s latest round of import levies.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just Democrats who are fixated on this issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Republicans are concentrating on affordability as well. Topping Ciattarelli\u2019s \u201cplan to fix New Jersey\u201d is a set of proposals to \u201cmake New Jersey affordable again.\u201d As an example, Ciattarelli is promising to \u201creduce income taxes for all taxpayers, consolidate tax brackets, prohibit tax increases on home improvements, and make student loan interest tax deductible.\u201d Of course, Republicans aren\u2019t laying responsibility for the high-cost economy at Trump\u2019s feet: They\u2019re pointing fingers at Joe Biden. In a video<\/a> announcing his Senate candidacy, Brown said the former president \u201cdrove up the cost of everything and made life just simply unaffordable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Inflation began under Biden, prompting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates<\/a> to cool prices. And six months into Trump\u2019s second term, higher costs are persisting. But what began with sticker shock at the gas pump and frustration with higher prices for household goods\u2014a top issue in the 2024 presidential campaign, if not the top issue\u2014has morphed into voters\u2019 broader exasperation that all facets of life are increasingly unaffordable. That\u2019s according to strategists in both parties who are active in 2025 and 2026 campaigns.<\/p>\n That includes the cost of education, health care, and housing.<\/p>\n Even voters with seemingly secure, well-paying jobs are feeling this financial pressure. This is especially the case for voters under 55, who have fewer financial resources to absorb rising costs, political operatives say.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, despite worries that prices are rising across the board\u2014a mid-July poll<\/a> from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed high grocery costs loomed as Americans\u2019 biggest worry\u2014economists tend to view housing as the biggest obstacle to affordability.<\/p>\n As Joseph Gyourko\u2014a professor of<\/a> real estate, finance, business economics, and public policy at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania\u2014explained to The Dispatch, high housing costs used to be<\/a> an economic challenge for Americans living in major metropolitan areas on the East and West coasts. From 1975 to 2000 and in the early years of the 21st Century, Gyourko explained, those impacted responded by moving to the outer suburbs, trading a long commute for affordable, middle-class housing. As those suburbs grew more costly, Americans began relocating to Sunbelt states like Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, because the region had both plentiful jobs and affordable housing.<\/p>\n But in recent years, Gyourko said, even the Sunbelt has grown increasingly unaffordable. Like the coasts, the problem stems largely from supply not keeping up with demand. That leaves just a few regions\u2014such as the deindustrialized Midwest\u2014left with affordable housing. The only problem, Gyourko pointed out, is that these regions lack the jobs to serve as a financially viable option to the more expensive areas of the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still the case that the big coastal markets are unaffordable because they continue now, not for 30 years but for 50 years, not to have built much housing. And they\u2019re not losing a lot of population,\u201d Gyourko said. \u201cWhat\u2019s new is the rise in prices, really since 2000 but particularly since the recovery from the [Great Recession], so call that 2015\u2014in the Sunbelt.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year Gyourko coauthored a report for the Brookings Institution<\/a> detailing his research.<\/p>\n