Cost of living is top of mind for midterm voters

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Kimberly Adams (0:55)

The top economic issues on the minds of voters as we race to the midterms.

From Marketplace in Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams. As of today, we're a little less than eight weeks out from the midterm elections. And it definitely looks like we're in for an it's the economy, stupid, election. Ipsos and Reuters just released a poll finding that three and four voters think their own cost of living is heading down the wrong track. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman has more.

Mitchell Hartman (1:22)

About 60% of Americans don't think their family has a good chance of improving their standard of living, says Johnny Sawyer at public opinion firm Ipsos. And...

Johnny Sawyer (1:32)

Almost half of registered voters, they say the cost of living is going to be the most important issue for them, regardless of political affiliation.

Mitchell Hartman (1:40)

That's partly gas prices, which hit an all-time high for August, according to AAA, but also groceries, electricity and rent. Also putting voters on edge, says Sawyer.

Johnny Sawyer (1:51)

How uncertain the economic environment is, with no end in sight to the current war in Iran, and then add in what's going on with Canada. Ultimately, they hold the president accountable, and you can see that in his approval rating.

Cost of living, he's at about 70% disapprove.

Mitchell Hartman (2:07)

Consumer sentiment fell sharply in August, according to the University of Michigan survey. Director Joanne Hsu says people of all political persuasions got more bummed out, but.

Joanne Hsu (2:18)

The decline was particularly strong among Republicans.

Mitchell Hartman (2:22)

Hsu says most Republicans still support the president's policies on trade in Iran.

Joanne Hsu (2:27)

But they were expecting those to yield faster results. Those who are Republican tell us that, as soon as the Iran conflict is over, gas prices are going to fall. But, you know, with seven months on, they're quite frustrated.

Mitchell Hartman (2:39)

As for voters' priorities, Ipsos finds Americans most want Congress to address the high costs of health care, housing and groceries, ranking lower on the list gas, electricity and child care. I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.

Kimberly Adams (2:54)

We'll get a read on just how much some of those prices Mitchell was just talking about have gone up lately with the monthly release of the Consumer Price Index, CPI, tomorrow morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

CPI measures how the cost of a basket of goods for consumers in urban areas changes over time. And it's the last big inflation reading the Federal Reserve will get ahead of the meeting of its interest rate setting committee next week. Here's Susan Schmidt, portfolio manager at Exchange Capital Resources, on what to expect in Friday's CPI.

Susan Schmidt (3:25)

That CPI reading is estimated to be 3.4% annually. That's higher than the Fed's 2% target. And core is going to be 2.4%.

Core CPI is X energy and food. That 2.4% still much higher than the Fed's 2% target. So pressure on the Federal Reserve to look at interest rates, they've hinted that they're now leaning towards an increase rather than a decrease. The CPI also implies at a higher than 2% number, that that increase might still be on the table.

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Kimberly Adams (4:46)

The Schengen area of the European Union includes 29 countries where people are supposed to be able to cross borders freely, which should make traveling from Warsaw to Berlin as easy as going from New York to Chicago. No official border crossing, no passport control. But in 2024, Germany imposed checks at all land crossings and several airports in an effort to crack down on undocumented immigration. And as Elisa Roth reports from the German-Polish border, it's also slowing down commerce.