Voters Want Lower Prices as Tariff Carve-Outs Pile Up

Six in 10 Americans surveyed in August said government should focus on bringing down the cost of groceries, electricity and gas rather than raising household incomes. In repeated surveys, the POLITICO Poll found voters blamed rising costs, not stagnant wages, for the affordability problem by a two-to-one margin. Frustration crosses party lines: more than 70% said Washington should do more about affordability but is choosing not to, including 65% of Trump voters and 84% of Kamala Harris voters.

The Public Mood

About 55% said the cost of living in their area was the worst they could remember. More than a quarter said everyday items hadn't felt affordable for 20 years or more. Nearly two-thirds said climbing the socioeconomic ladder was harder, or impossible, compared with the past.

Jennifer Jones Austin, co-chair of the National True Cost of Living Coalition, said people see lower costs as "an easier fix because the government has not demonstrated that they're going to change the wage structure." She argued government should address prices and wages alike.

POLITICO Magazine's "26 Ideas for Solving the Affordability Crisis" casts 2026 as the maturation of an affordability-centered political era. The word emerged in books in 1973 and didn't appear in a party platform before 1980. Oren Cass, founder of the conservative think tank American Compass, argued that treating Americans mainly as consumers fails to respect them as workers.

The Tariff Retreat

The administration's trade record tells its own story. Republican lawmakers and industries pressed for expanded exemptions from President Donald Trump's tariffs. Sens. Susan Collins and Jerry Moran sought relief on road salt and cement to limit construction costs. Bulk whiskey and liquor imports, refined lead, household paper products and low-voltage switchgear also won reprieves.

The American Action Forum found that the share of U.S. imports exempt from tariffs climbed from about 30% under the original "Liberation Day" duties to roughly two-thirds under the forced-labor tariffs imposed in July. That package exempted more than 470 products, including coffee, cocoa, planting seeds and used clothing. Trump cut duties on farm equipment and home air conditioners in June. The Agriculture Department said lower duties on Moroccan fertilizer would bring farmers' prices down by about 22%. In August, the administration temporarily lifted tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of imports to ease record-high ground beef prices.

The Commerce Department also trimmed proposed company-specific duties. Italian pasta makers saw a threatened rate of nearly 92% fall to a final rate in the single digits. Officials avoided new tariff announcements before the midterms. After Chinese President Xi Jinping's late-September visit, the two countries identified about $30 billion in products for potential tariff cuts, though they hadn't implemented those reductions.

The Deficit Problem

Victoria Guida wrote that sending checks or lowering taxes can quickly put money in people's pockets, but may backfire if it fuels price increases and adds to federal debt. The 10-year borrowing rate, which influences mortgage and car-loan costs, had risen amid inflation and investor worries about the gap between revenue and spending. Federal interest payments had surpassed defense spending. Fixing that would require hard choices on taxes and on Social Security and Medicare. Guida wrote that "the only solution to this cycle is pain," and that politicians must decide who bears it.

Markets, Charity and Economists' Doubts

Not every proposal runs through Washington. Rep. Blake Moore, a Utah Republican who launched the first Congressional Philanthropy Caucus, said: "There is a gap with what the government can do. Our welfare programs are not going to solve everything. They never will." Food banks face strain. Claire Neal, CEO of MANNA FoodBank in western North Carolina, said, "We're seeing lots of folks who have never struggled before."

Some economists question the premise. Jason Furman, a Harvard professor and former Obama adviser, said inflation-adjusted family income is 70% higher than in 1970 and called the gap between perception and fundamentals "misery amidst splendor." Norbert Michel of the Cato Institute called claims that the middle class had been decimated "just factually incorrect." Unemployment has stayed at or below 4.5% for nearly five years, and the S&P 500 has returned more than 12% annually over that stretch.

But real wage growth has reversed amid inflation linked to the Iran war, while serious delinquencies on auto loans and credit cards have returned to post-2008 levels. Bharat Ramamurti, a former Biden economic official, warned that price caps or direct payments could be temporary or worsen inflation if poorly designed. Michael Faulkender, a former Deputy Treasury Secretary, said durable supply-side changes "are not a silver bullet that goes into effect tomorrow."

Why This Matters:

The affordability fight is shaping up as a test of whether Washington reaches first for market-based fixes or new mandates. The facts cut both ways. The administration has quietly rolled back a large share of its own tariffs because of the costs they impose, while proposals like price caps, subsidized city-owned grocery stores and lower student loan rates would put taxpayers or the federal balance sheet on the hook. Rising interest payments already crowd out other priorities, and Guida's warning that deficit-financed relief can raise borrowing costs reminds voters that quick fixes carry bills. With midterms weeks away, voters in both parties are demanding results. Whoever delivers will likely be the party that lowers costs without adding to the debt.