About eight in 10 registered voters say lowering the cost of living should be one of the next Congress’s highest priorities, while roughly seven in 10 say the same about ending the war with Iran, according to a new AP-NORC survey released less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.

Those priorities cut across party lines and rank well above the institutional battles that dominate much of the campaign. About four in 10 voters want Congress to make investigating President Donald Trump’s administration a top priority, and only about two in 10 want lawmakers to concentrate on supporting his agenda, the AP report found.

The results do not predict how people will vote, nor do they show that a divided or narrowly controlled Congress can quickly reduce prices or change the course of a war. They do, however, identify a broad public demand that is more practical than partisan: voters want the incoming Congress judged principally by whether it can improve household finances and address a costly overseas conflict.

Affordability unites an otherwise divided electorate

The AP-NORC survey was conducted October 8 through 12 using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel. It included 1,119 adults, 925 of them registered voters, and had a margin of sampling error of 4.2 percentage points for registered voters. That means small differences should not be read as precise rankings, but the large gap between affordability and explicitly partisan priorities is unlikely to be statistical noise.

A separate Ipsos survey released October 20 points in the same direction. In that poll, 75% of adults described the economy as poor or not so good, while 48% said they were financially worse off than when Trump returned to office in January 2025. Democrats held a 38%-to-24% advantage over Republicans on trust to handle the cost of living, a reversal from the parties’ near tie on the economy in July.

Recent inflation data explain the political pressure

The concern is grounded in a fresh rise in measured prices. The Consumer Price Index increased 0.6% in September and 3.7% over 12 months, according to BLS data. Gasoline climbed 9.1% during the month and accounted for more than half of the overall increase, while shelter rose 0.4%. Food prices were flat overall, but the sharp energy move made the cost increase unusually visible to households.

Inflation is not the same as the price level. A slower annual rate would mean prices are rising less quickly, not that groceries, rent or fuel have returned to earlier levels. That distinction helps explain why public dissatisfaction can remain intense even when some inflation measures improve. In the AP-NORC findings, 85% of voters called the economy a top voting issue and 84% said the same of the cost of living; 79% disapproved of Trump’s handling of living costs.

The Iran war has become a domestic political issue

The war’s place near the top of the priority list shows how foreign policy and household economics have converged. Roughly seven in 10 registered voters said ending the conflict should be among Congress’s highest priorities. In the same broader AP-NORC survey, 64% identified the war as one of the most important issues in deciding their midterm vote.

That finding does not specify what terms voters would accept to end the conflict, how Congress should use its funding and war-powers authorities, or whether lawmakers could produce a bipartisan strategy. It does show that the issue has moved beyond a traditional foreign-policy constituency. The latest inflation report’s gasoline increase gives voters a direct economic channel through which to experience a conflict whose military and diplomatic questions may otherwise feel remote.

Partisan goals have narrower constituencies

Voters did not reject oversight or presidential leadership altogether. About six in 10 registered Democrats said investigating the administration should be a top priority, while about six in 10 Republicans aligned with the Make America Great Again movement wanted Congress to support Trump’s agenda. But those preferences weakened outside each party’s most committed faction. Only about two in 10 non-MAGA Republicans prioritized advancing the president’s program.

Democratic leaders have tried to join affordability and accountability rather than choose between them. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said a Democratic majority would focus on health-insurance costs, tariffs and the Iran war while also pursuing investigations, according to an October 14 statement. The polling suggests that ordering matters: the broadest mandate is attached to costs and the war, while oversight draws a smaller and more partisan coalition.

Control of Congress will determine what is possible

Republicans hold a 218-214 House majority, with two vacancies and one independent who caucuses with them, while their Senate majority is 53-47. Democrats therefore need a net gain of four seats in each chamber to take control, according to a Reuters guide. The AP-NORC survey found 47% of voters preferred Democratic control of the House and 46% preferred it in the Senate, compared with 38% who favored continued Republican control of each chamber.

Those figures are national preferences, not district-by-district forecasts. House control will be decided across 435 separate races, Senate control by a smaller set of state contests, and turnout can differ substantially from survey respondents’ stated intentions. The poll also cannot establish whether voters’ issue priorities will outweigh candidate quality, party loyalty or local concerns when ballots are cast.

What the evidence does establish is a wide gap between the public’s desired governing agenda and the most partisan visions offered by either side. Voters are signaling that a mandate for control of Congress, whichever party receives it, will be strongest when tied to lower household costs and an end to the Iran war. Whether the next Congress can convert that consensus into legislation or a durable foreign-policy settlement is the larger test the election cannot answer.