Cost of Living Tops Voters' Concerns as Americans Cast Midterm Ballots

Polls opened across the country Tuesday morning for the 2026 midterm elections. Voters will decide all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 Senate seats, and governors in 36 states.

Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress. Democrats need a net gain of at least three House seats and four Senate seats to take control of either chamber.

More than 51 million ballots were already cast before Election Day, a midterm record. Those early votes do not settle any race. Results will arrive state by state as polls close through the evening, and close races and mail ballots could leave control of one or both chambers unclear tonight.

What voters say matters most

The cost of living is the issue most voters say will decide their vote. A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,765 adults, conducted Thursday through Monday, found 48% of registered voters named it their top issue. Democratic norms came next at 26%, followed by immigration at 13%. The poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points for registered voters. It is not an exit poll.

Household finances tell a similar story. Some 49% of Americans said their finances have gotten worse since January 2025, when President Donald Trump returned to office. Another 13% said their finances have gotten better, and 37% said they are about the same.

Trump himself is a factor for most voters. Among those who planned to vote or had already voted, 48% said they thought of their ballot as a vote against Trump, 25% said they were voting for him, and 25% said he was not a factor.

On the war with Iran, 25% of voters said military action has been worth the cost, while 55% said it has not been worth it. Another 18% said they were not sure.

On the election itself, 77% of voters said they are confident their ballots will be counted, while 45% said they think voter fraud is a widespread problem. The White House says its goal is to safeguard election integrity and voting security.

The poll found other issues cutting across party lines. Some 42% of registered voters said limiting the construction of data centers used to power artificial intelligence was very important or the most important issue. On transgender sports, 38% said keeping transgender girls and women out of women's sports was very important or the most important issue, compared with 25% who said that about protecting the rights of transgender people. A bipartisan majority, including 93% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans, said it is inappropriate for billionaires to contribute tens of millions of dollars to influence elections. And 43% of registered voters said Democrats had at least some good ideas, while 39% said the same of Republicans.

The final pitches

Trump has called the midterms the most important of "our lifetime." On Monday, in his final pitch to voters, he said, "With your vote we will decide: These extremists will be given power or not power."

Democrats have pitched the stakes in their own terms. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who faces reelection in Georgia, told supporters Monday: "We've seen in these last few months attacks on civil rights and voting rights unprecedented for decades. But when our civil rights and voting rights are under attack, we defend them by using them."

Trump also defended the war with Iran in a Fox News interview Monday evening, hours before polls opened. "We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon and we won't," he said. The war, launched with Israel on Feb. 28, has driven fuel prices to their highest levels in years, carries a $47.1 billion price tag, and has killed at least 21 U.S. service members, according to USA Today.

On Monday, the Supreme Court declined a Justice Department emergency request to set aside a group of California mail ballots, leaving the state's ballot procedures in place for Tuesday's vote. No justice publicly dissented.