Cost of living a central concern as inflation reaches 3.7%
The Guardian’s live coverage of the US midterm campaign’s closing days was led by news that a judge has barred the DoJ from threatening election workers, with the vote three days away.
Millions of Americans will head to the polls on 3 November in elections that will determine control of the Republican-held House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the governorships of 36 states. Donald Trump, according to the Guardian’s coverage, is set to hold tele-rallies in the final three days before the vote.
The Guardian described the midterms as arriving amid mounting public frustration over issues ranging from the rising cost of living and immigration to the climate crisis, artificial intelligence, big tech and the country’s overseas wars. Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 36%, according to a New York Times/Siena poll conducted this month.
For many voters, the cost of living is a central concern ahead of the vote, particularly as inflation reaches 3.7%, according to the Guardian.
The Guardian asked voters across the US to describe their concerns and their disillusionment with the current political climate; the accounts were collected for a report by Guardian reporter Maya Yang. One respondent characterized the country under the Trump administration as a “rogue nation, ungoverned by the rule of law”. The Guardian noted that some respondents shared only a first name, or declined to share a name, for privacy reasons.
Kathryn Warren, a retired staff member from Dare County schools who lives on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, told the Guardian she and her husband had already voted early.
“We are dying on the vine in this economy,” Warren said. “We live in a remote area and the cost of gas is taking a big chunk of our social security. Groceries and medicine are outrageous.”
“The medicine that keeps me alive costs $7,000 a month before insurance,” she said. “In what world is that reasonable?”