The top concerns for Americans heading into Tuesday’s midterm elections are the economy and health care, with 50 percent of registered voters describing each as “extremely important.”
The war with Iran ranks third, while other leading concerns include immigration and crime.
The economy has long been one of the issues most directly affecting how Americans vote. Its importance has grown amid rising costs for gasoline, energy, housing, borrowing, services and groceries.
Gasoline prices jumped 9.1% in September, while overall energy prices rose 20.4% year over year. Housing costs also increased 3.2% over the past 12 months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A Pew Research Center poll published Oct. 8 found that 84 percent of respondents considered the economy extremely important in determining how they would vote, making it a shared concern among supporters of both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Meanwhile, 65 percent of those surveyed said President Donald Trump’s economic policies were hurting the economy.
David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston, told MBN that declining purchasing power makes it harder for the party in power to persuade voters of the merits of its policies.
Health Care
The burden of health care is reflected in the cost of insurance Americans obtain through their employers, which serves as the primary source of coverage for millions of workers and their families.
According to a 2026 survey by KFF, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health insurance rose by about 5 percent from the previous year.
Premiums do not necessarily cover all of a patient’s medical expenses. Patients may also have to pay additional amounts when visiting a doctor, purchasing medication or receiving treatment.
The Pew poll found that 68 percent of voters considered health care extremely important when deciding how to vote, with greater concern among supporters of Democratic candidates.
The War With Iran
The debate over the war with Iran, which began in February, extends beyond its military and political objectives to include its cost to the U.S. Treasury and its potential impact on energy prices and federal spending.
The Pentagon estimated the cost of the war at approximately $47.1 billion as of Oct. 16, 2026, according to an Associated Press report. That figure does not include damage to U.S. military bases caused by Iranian attacks.
The figures raise questions about how military operations are being financed and how public spending priorities are set, as well as the impact of developments in the Middle East on the fuel prices Americans pay.
Congress has tools to influence the funding of military operations and oversee spending, although decisions on foreign policy and war involve overlapping powers between the executive and legislative branches.
According to the Pew poll, 57 percent of voters considered foreign policy extremely important when deciding how to vote. A Reuters/Ipsos poll, meanwhile, found that only 34 percent approved of Trump’s handling of the conflict.
Charles Franklin, a professor of law and public policy at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, said the war with Iran does not enjoy broad public support. However, he argued that economic concerns are a stronger motivator for voters than foreign policy issues.
Republican candidates in several races have called for an end to the fighting. In September, four Republican senators joined Democrats in a vote aimed at restricting the war.
But James Druckman, a political science professor at the University of Rochester, said the war’s impact on voting decisions could be limited, even among some Republicans who oppose it.
Opposing the war, he told MBN, does not necessarily mean changing one’s voting preferences or staying away from the polls.
Immigration and Crime
Border security and immigration enforcement are central issues in the American political debate. The figures offer important insights into an issue of significant concern to Americans.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, authorities recorded approximately 444,000 encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, at and between ports of entry, during fiscal year 2025, compared with about 2.1 million in the previous fiscal year.
As for crime, FBI data showed that the violent crime rate fell 9.3 percent between 2024 and 2025, while homicides declined 18.1 percent.
The homicide rate stood at 4.1 per 100,000 people, one of the lowest levels recorded in the historical series of national data.
These figures alone do not establish that any particular government policy caused the decline, but they provide a basis for assessing political rhetoric surrounding public safety.
In the Pew poll, 59 percent of voters said immigration was extremely important in determining their vote, compared with 52 percent who said the same about violent crime. Both issues drew greater attention from supporters of Republican candidates.
Among Hispanic respondents, 62 percent said the Trump administration was deporting undocumented immigrants living in the United States excessively. A Reuters/Ipsos poll, meanwhile, found that 55 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump’s handling of immigration.
Paleologos told MBN that immigration and crime carry significant emotional weight for voters, playing an important role in motivating them to participate in elections and reinforcing their political positions.
Source: alhurra.com
