Inflation tops list of issues for voters ahead of midterms: poll

Inflation is the issue voters are most concerned about heading into the midterms even amid concerns about the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey. 

Thirty-two percent of voters in the poll said inflation is the most important issue facing the country, followed by 27 percent who said the top issue was the economy and jobs and 21 percent who said immigration.

Seventy-six percent of voters said they have been impacted by inflation somewhat or a lot. Forty-six percent of voters also said they anticipate inflation to stay high and 35 percent said they feared it would go even higher.

The poll results are bad news for Democrats, who had hoped to shine the national spotlight more on President Biden’s handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Only 35 percent of voters said they strongly or somewhat approve of the job Biden is doing on the economy and just 39 percent similarly approved of his efforts to stimulate job growth.

Biden’s overall approval rating sits at 39 percent.

Inflation has been rising in recent months, hitting a 40-year high with a 7.9 percent spike earlier in March. The surge has been fueled by a rise in prices in food, energy, shelter and a broad range of consumer goods.

“Inflation appears to be the prime driver now of the Biden and Democratic deficits. Food and fuel are seen as driving costs up and creating a middle-class squeeze,” said pollster Mark Penn.

The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey of 1,990 registered voters was conducted from March 23-24. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.

The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. As a representative online sample, it does not report a probability confidence interval.