I believe people will vote with their wallets - and high gas prices, grocery prices and just about everything else that has soared in price over the past year spells bad news for Republicans - as the party in power is always blamed.
Next would be the extremely unpopular and pointless war in Iran - the one we kept hearing would be over in a matter of days...weeks... months...
Note the prices in the period of 2011-2014 during the Obama administration. There was no Democratic braying about gasoline affordability that I ever heard back then. Five hundred gallons of gasoline as a percentage of median household income was higher then by probably 60%.
“high gas prices, grocery prices”
Imagine:
This is what Mrs. Pam Peoria, a great cook who almost never eats out, spent on a whole year of edible groceries and nutritious drinks such as milk from Aug 1, 2025 to July 30,2026....
This is what her dentist paid for a single month [January 2026] of Affordable Care Act coverage premiums....
[My dentist paid $1,600/month for coverage in 2025]
Year COLA
2009 0.0
2010 0.0
2011 3.6
2012 1.7
2013 1.5
2014 1.7
2015 0.0
2016 0.3
2017 2.0
2018 2.8
2019 1.6
2020 1.3
2021 5.9
2022 8.7
2023 3.2
2024 2.5
2025 2.8
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html
Imagine if a graph of the price of 50 gallons of gasoline was made as a percentage of Mr. Peoria Republican’s Social Security income from 2008, with the times Republicans held the White House in red and the times Democrats held the White House in blue.
“everything else that has soared in price over the past year”
The affluent neighborhood to my north has an HOA that has always required tile roofs.
I saw a metal roof being put on one of the houses. I was told by the roofer that Florida law allows HOA covenants to be overridden.
No above average income neighborhood is safe from the machinations of either the Democrats or Republicans.
Why would people be in any sort of rush to buy a house?