On Election Eve, Voters Head to Tuesday's Midterms in a Sour Economic Mood, Reuters Finds
Prices — up about 5.5 percent since January 2025, matching wage growth — and the Iran war sit on top of the national mood as voters decide control of Congress, with Democrats needing a net gain of four seats in each chamber to flip either one.
Americans head into Tuesday's midterm elections in a sour economic mood, Reuters reported Monday, with high and rising prices the key issue on voters' minds and many blaming the president's policies — specifically tariffs and the Iran war — for the nagging inflation.
The numbers behind the mood are tight ones: consumer prices and average hourly earnings have both risen about 5.5 percent since January 2025, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by Reuters, which means pay is running even with prices rather than ahead of them. The mood measures disagree in detail — the Conference Board's confidence index perked up in October while the University of Michigan's sentiment index sat near a record low — but Reuters' reporting found skepticism the common thread.
What is at stake Tuesday is control of Congress for the final two years of the president's term. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in both chambers to overturn Republican majorities of 218-214 in the House and 53-47 in the Senate, and Reuters notes several states are unlikely to produce complete results on election night — fertile ground, it says, for disputes in close races.
Chicago votes inside that national picture: polls across the city and Cook County open at 6 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m., and anyone in line by 7 votes. The station's full Election Day service file — registration, mail ballots and polling places — is carried separately in today's politics coverage.
