A worker installs roofing material on a home under construction at the Lilac Ridge community by Lennar Homes on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Vacaville, California, USA.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
According to a CNBC survey, housing costs are the top political issue among U.S. voters between the ages of 18 and 34, ranking higher than food costs and protecting democracy.
The CNBC National Economic Survey for the second quarter of 2026, which surveyed 1,000 registered voters across the country, found that housing costs are a salient issue, especially among young voters, the kind of voters both parties hope to appeal to in the 2026 midterm elections.
“My argument, and the argument of several others, was that Democrats made a huge mistake in 2024 by not talking more about health care, an issue that has long given Democrats an advantage in the polls,” said Jay Campbell, partner at Democratic polling firm Hart Research, which conducted the poll.
“I think housing could be the health care of 2024, especially given that Democrats need to weed out anti-Trump, pro-democracy young people,” Campbell said.
According to survey participants interviewed from July 8 to 12, housing and health care costs were tied as the fourth most important issue facing the country today, behind food and grocery prices, protecting democracy, and immigration and border security. This was the most important issue for male respondents between the ages of 18 and 49, and the second most important issue after the cost of food and groceries for respondents of all genders between the ages of 35 and 49.
Concerns about housing are heightened by factors such as rising expenses relative to income and rising mortgage costs due to rising insurance and property taxes. A June report from Harvard University’s Joint Housing Research Center found that 49% of renting households spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Of those 22.7 million households, 12.1 million pay more than half of their income on housing, according to the report.
Opinions differ somewhat along partisan lines about the importance of housing costs. Self-identified Democrats surveyed said it was their third most important issue, behind food costs and protecting democracy. Independents also ranked food costs and democracy as top priorities, followed by immigration and border security, and housing costs in fourth place.
Republicans, on the other hand, have ranked the issue lower on their list of priorities, focusing instead on immigration, food costs and Iran.
affordable elections
Affordability and cost of living are the buzzwords heading into the midterm elections, and both parties have sought to make the housing issue their own.
A bipartisan bill aimed at increasing the supply of housing, lowering the cost of renting or buying a home, and limiting the role of private equity in the housing market passed Congress with overwhelming support in June.
Passage could have led to a victory lap for Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House. But President Donald Trump hastily canceled a signing ceremony already scheduled at the Capitol, calling his refusal to sign the bill a “big yawn.”
The bill passed earlier this month without President Trump’s approval based on technicalities.
Democrats said the incident was the latest example of Trump and the Republican Party failing to prioritize the cost of living as the president returns to themes of the Iran war and passing a national voter ID law.
Democrats are widely expected to take back the House, but the path to winning a majority in the Senate is even more difficult. They are in a better position when it comes to housing, according to a CNBC study.
Of those surveyed, 38% said Democrats would do a better job on housing policy, while 32% agreed with Republicans. Among respondents who listed housing costs as their top two choice, 53% said Democrats would do a better job than Republicans.
Dissatisfaction with house prices goes hand-in-hand with broader trends of consumer anxiety amid inflation and the war with Iran. Sixty percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of President Trump’s handling of the economy, 63% disapproved of his handling of the Iran situation, and 68% disapproved of the administration’s efforts to address inflation and the cost of living.
When asked who they wanted to control Congress after the midterm elections, respondents said Democrats had a slight lead over Republicans (49% to 45%). The survey has a margin of error of 3.1%.
“Americans are struggling with rising rents, unaffordable home prices, and high mortgage rates, all under Republican rule,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Beto Shelton said in a statement. “Voters have accused the Republican Party of breaking its promise to lower housing costs, but President Trump’s refusal to address this housing affordability crisis has left a fragile Republican Party looking like an incompetent stooge who can’t solve fiscal problems.”
The perception that “Republicans don’t care about this issue” created an opening for Democrats, Shelton said.
But Republicans were not prepared to budge on the issue, pointing out that while President Trump refrained from signing the bill, he also failed to veto it, which he could have done.
“Democrats have spent years fueling the housing crisis with failed policies. Republicans have taken real action to build more housing, lower costs, and help more families achieve the American Dream,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement.
—CNBC’s Diana Olick contributed to this report.
