Voters Put Cost Relief Ahead of Trump’s Agenda

About eight in 10 registered voters want Congress to make lowering the cost of living one of its highest priorities. Roughly seven in 10 want it to focus on ending the war in Iran, according to a new AP-NORC poll. Only about two in 10 want Congress to prioritize the Republican president’s agenda. The findings show voters pushing the institution that sets federal priorities toward everyday costs and away from serving the president’s program.

The priorities people named

“I'm not a millionaire and probably won't ever be. I prefer policy that helps me instead of someone I'll never be,” said Justin Campbell, a 31-year-old Democrat from Brookhaven, Mississippi. His preference is plain: policy that helps people who don’t expect to become wealthy.

About half of voters also want Congress to reduce the budget deficit and find common ground between the parties. About four in 10 want investigations of the Trump administration and new laws regulating artificial intelligence to rank as high priorities. About three in 10 want to end military aid to Israel.

Among Democrats, about six in 10 call investigating the Trump administration a highest priority, but that still trails lowering costs and ending the Iran conflict. About three-quarters of Democratic voters who identify as supporters of democratic socialism want investigations to be a top priority, compared with slightly less than half of Democrats who don’t identify that way. Democratic socialists are also more likely to want Congress to end military aid to Israel and less likely to prioritize finding common ground.

Campbell, who identified as a democratic socialist, said: “It feels a little cliche to just say roll back the past two years, but honestly, mostly just roll back the stuff he's done the past two years.”

The limits of the ballot-box agenda

House Democrats have begun planning a 100-day agenda in case they win control of Congress in November. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said their priorities include making life more affordable and conducting extensive oversight of the Trump administration. The proposed agenda depends on who controls Congress after the election.

Arthur Brown, a 71-year-old Democrat in Magee, Mississippi, wants the next Congress to strengthen the economy and lower prices. He feels less urgency about holding Trump accountable because only two years would remain in Trump’s term, and says turning the economy around matters more. “They should just focus on, you know, trying to tackle these problems,” Brown said. “Eventually down the road, justice will come.”

Moderates in both parties are more likely than voters on their parties’ left and right wings to want Democrats and Republicans to find common ground. Lower costs and an end to the Iran war remain broad demands; the poll reports what voters want Congress to do, not a grassroots or self-organized response outside it.

Republican voters and the president’s program

At least half of MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans want Congress to lower costs, end the Iran war and reduce the federal budget deficit. About six in 10 MAGA Republicans want Congress to prioritize Trump’s agenda, compared with about two in 10 Republicans who don’t support MAGA.

Richard Longo, a 74-year-old Republican in Lake Forest, California, wants the president’s agenda pursued, but he’s particularly concerned about balancing the budget. “You're not going to balance the budget in one year, but you have to have a plan,” he said.

Lisa Ostlund, a 46-year-old MAGA supporter from Wayland, Massachusetts, wants Congress to prioritize Trump’s agenda. She says she doesn’t support everything Trump did, but credits his policies with helping her find housing after struggling with homelessness for several years. “You got to care about your American people,” Ostlund said. “He definitely doesn't say it right, but you do have to put them first.”

The AP-NORC poll surveyed 1,119 adults from Oct. 8-12 using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. Linley Sanders, an Associated Press polls and surveys analyst, and Mike Catalini, a national politics reporter based in Pennsylvania, wrote the report.