Affordability crisis becomes rare point of agreement in divided America

By Lauren PEARLE

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In a deeply divided country, one issue is cutting through the noise: Americans increasingly agree that the affordability crisis is real and that it could get worse.

A new Guardian/Harris Poll released Tuesday found that 95% of Americans believe the country is suffering from an affordability crisis and that 57% believe the overall economy is getting worse, up from 46% who said the same in February.

About half of respondents said they are having trouble affording everyday necessities such as gas and groceries.

Costs are outpacing wages

The poll was conducted in the weeks after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier. The increase in the Consumer Price Index was driven largely by a 40.5% jump in gasoline prices.

Over the same period, food prices increased 3.1% and the price of fruits and vegetables, the staples of a healthy diet, surged 6.1%.

Inflation continues to outpace U.S. average hourly wages, which rose 3.5% over the year ending in June, according to the most recent Labor Department data.

The cost of living, most Americans now believe, will only go up.

Another survey released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that Americans expect inflation to rise 3.7% over the next year , the highest level since September 2023.

Affordability cuts across party lines

The Guardian/Harris poll found that Republicans, independents and Democrats alike believe the U.S. has an affordability crisis, and pessimism about the economy is growing across the political spectrum.

While sentiment among Democrats is bleaker, 38% of Republicans now say the economy is getting worse, compared with 22% who said the same in February, the poll found.

Nearly half of Republicans said they have little faith that the federal government, now under Republican control, will improve the cost-of-living crisis they face.

While President Donald Trump has at times called U.S. affordability a “hoax” or a “ fake word made up by the Democrats ,” the public’s anxiety poses a political problem for the Republican Party heading into this fall’s midterm elections.

Inflation and the cost of living are now the top concerns for Americans in battleground states, according to a survey by Navigator released last month.

That survey found that nearly 70% of battleground voters give the U.S. economy a negative rating and that about two-thirds say Trump and the Republican Party are most responsible.

Housing affordability united Congress

Housing has become one of the clearest examples of an affordability crisis that has brought together lawmakers who agree on little else.

Friday appears to be the constitutional deadline for Trump to act on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act , a sweeping package aimed at increasing the nation’s housing supply and making homeownership more affordable. If he takes no action and Congress remains in session, the bill can become law without his signature.

The legislation won overwhelming bipartisan support, passing the Senate 85-5 on June 22, and the House 358-32 the following day.

Trump had planned to hold a signing ceremony for the bill but abruptly canceled it, tying his support to congressional action on a separate election measure. Trump later described the housing bill as “ a yawn ” and “ so unimportant .”

As Straight Arrow reported , the broad consensus on Capitol Hill follows the passage of similar housing measures in cities and states across the country. Housing bills have scrambled traditional political alliances and drawn rare bipartisan support.

“Making housing more available and affordable is one of the few remaining things people can agree on in 2026,” Seva Rodnyansky , a research manager at The Pew Charitable Trusts, told Straight Arrow. “It cuts across party lines and government levels.”

The broader affordability crisis could soon test whether that same consensus could extend beyond housing.

Original article: san.com