Paychecks aren’t going as far. More Americans say they trust Democrats to help.

High prices and the cost of living are top issues for the voters who will decide the midterm elections in November. And women are more worried than men about paying for necessities in every category, from groceries and housing to healthcare and retirement, according to new polling from The 19th and YouGov.  

Democrats, hoping to win back control of Congress and key state-level offices, are running on affordability and lowering prices, particularly as the Trump administration’s war in Iran is pushing gas and diesel prices even higher.

And their messaging is breaking through: The poll also shows that Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans on every single cost-of-living issue. 

Retirement

About 62 percent of Americans are very or somewhat worried about paying for retirement, according to The 19th/YouGov poll. 

Sue Doherty, a retired nurse, said she moved from the Twin Cities area in Minnesota back to Wisconsin, where she grew up, because of the high cost of living. 

Her pension from decades working as a nurse and her Social Security checks are “barely enough to make ends meet,” she told The 19th in the small town of Gays Mills, where Democratic congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke was campaigning for votes at the town’s Apple Festival and parade Sunday.  

“It really bothers me that someone like me can’t retire gracefully,” said Doherty, who is supporting Cooke in her race against Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, which Democrats are hoping to flip in November. 

When it comes to retirement, women are more concerned: 33 percent are very worried about saving for retirement, compared with 26 percent of men. 

Women already historically save about 30 percent less than men for retirement due to unpaid labor as caregivers. They also have longer life expectancies than men and make up the majority of Social Security beneficiaries. Some experts have raised concerns that benefits will continue to shrink and retirees could see cuts to their incomes as the birth rate continues to fall, people live longer and federal policy adjustments could make the Social Security trust insolvent by 2032.  

Healthcare

About 61 percent of Americans are worried about healthcare expenses, according to the poll. 

After the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies expired at the end of 2025, health insurance costs soared for many Americans. Some people were forced to dip into savings or take on second jobs. Nearly 1 in 10 people who were previously enrolled in an ACA plan had to go without coverage. 

About 65 percent of women said they were worried about the ability to pay for healthcare, compared with 56 percent of men, according to the poll. 

For several years, polling has shown that women are more likely to say they cannot afford increases in healthcare costs. And women are at greater risk of many chronic health conditions that make going without coverage particularly difficult.

Groceries

About 57 percent of Americans are worried about the cost of groceries. Grocery prices have increased 3.4 percent on average since President Donald Trump began his second term, according to the federal Consumer Price Index. Cereals, bakery products, meats, poultry, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables and nonalcoholic beverages are all more expensive. 

When it comes to the cost of groceries, women were far more likely to be worried than men, according to The 19th/YouGov poll. About 62 percent of women were very or somewhat worried, compared with only 50 percent of men. 

Women are more likely to go to the grocery store to pick up food for themselves or their families and more likely to spend more on meals at home. 

Housing and utilities

About 55 percent of Americans are worried about housing expenses and utilities, according to the poll. The ongoing war in Iran, which began in February following joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes, has driven up housing and utility costs by pushing up oil prices. 

When it comes to housing, 58 percent of women are worried about whether they can afford housing compared with 52 percent of men. Similarly, 59 percent of women find the cost of utilities concerning compared with 51 percent of men. 

Why women are more worried

Women make the majority of consumer purchases for their families. They also shoulder a disproportionate share of caregiving and household responsibilities. Claire Gothreau, an assistant professor of political science at Lebanon Valley College, said she is not surprised to see a gender gap when it comes to affordability concerns. “Women often experience affordability pressures differently because of persistent economic inequalities,” she said.

Gothreau highlighted the gender wage gap: Women working full-time and year-round earn a median of $11,620 less than men, according to 2025 data from the Center for American Progress. And these disparities are substantially larger for women of color. Black women earn 64 cents and Hispanic women earn 60 cents for every dollar earned by White men. 

“Affordability is likely to be salient for voters across demographic groups this election cycle, but having less income available to absorb these increases can make affordability an especially acute concern,” Gothreau said. 

Rosemarie Fike, an economics instructor at Texas Christian University, said paychecks aren’t going as far as they used to and many families are struggling. 

“Households are facing a complex problem of figuring out how to reallocate their budget in response to inflation,” Fike said, noting that the current rate of inflation is 3.4 percent, which is higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. “A disproportionate amount of the mental labor involved with figuring out how to shift a household’s spending falls on women. Thus, the unseen cost of grappling with inflation, in practice, may fall more heavily on the shoulders of women as they tend to take on more of the household management tasks.”

Which political party do Americans trust to help? 

When it comes to the economy, the cost of groceries, childcare, caring for older family members, paid family and medical leave, women’s health and housing costs — the majority of Americans said they thought the Democrats would better handle the issues, according to the 19th/YouGov poll. 

Gothreau said women typically show more support than men for social welfare policy and programs designed to provide economic security. 

“Women tend to express more pro-social values and greater concern for the well-being of others,” Gothreau said. 

Fike pointed to the Trump administration’s tariff policies, which have been widely criticized by economists, as a factor in rising prices and as a factor in voters’ disillusionment with the current Republican leadership. 

“Voters are feeling the strain of higher prices and may be drawing connections between the policies that many incumbent candidates supported and the higher consumer prices they now face,” Fike said. 

Thirty-eight percent of Americans trust Democrats to help address the high costs of childcare, compared with only 19 percent who trust Republicans. 

The 19th/YouGov poll was conducted online from September 18 to 24 among 2,357 adults, including an oversampling of 18- to 29-year-olds. The margin of error for the overall sample is ± 2.5 points