It’s not a surprise that the economy is often top of mind for voters; it usually is. What’s new this year is that Republicans have lost their advantage on the issue. And while on the surface that’s about gas and grocery prices, there are deeper shifts happening that could help open the door to a new economic era.
But voters are turning away from that, and the reason why could mark a seismic change in American politics: Now, they aren’t so sure that what’s good for businesses is good for them. They’re looking for candidates with not just answers but different kinds of answers than they’ve heard before. If Democrats win next Tuesday and actually deliver next year, it could usher in a new era of policy that finally closes the door on the neoliberalism that has dominated for nearly half a century.
Reagan never called it “trickle-down economics,” but of course that’s what it became known as. Despite being disproven as a theory of economics, parts of these ideas have fundamentally stuck. Many voters still think the government causes inflation and is massively inefficient compared to the venerated private sector. They voted for Donald Trump because they believed he was a businessman who could turn things around.
And they’re fighting the old attacks that used to sink those ideas, like claims from the right that robust government spending equals socialism and communism. “The only minority destroying America is the billionaires,” Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico said at a rally last year.
In recent swing-state surveys, the progressive Democratic messaging group Way to Win, a “strategic donor collaborative and strategy hub,” found that voters were more convinced by messages that promised a government that works for people. Those that included statements like “Our leaders should be fighting to make all of our lives better” and “We need leaders willing to stand up to right-wing corporate interests that hold influence in both political parties” were popular. The people surveyed also blamed things like no-bid contracts and corporate price-gouging for the sad state of the economy.
Support for the government helping families pay for childcare costs has also grown, especially among young voters. Nearly 60 percent of Gen Z voters said the government should subsidize childcare for families with two working parents in an October poll by The 19th/YouGov, and 29 percent of women in that age group said the government should fully cover childcare for children under the age of two. Thirty percent of voters aged 30 to 44, the most likely group of adults to be paying for childcare right now, supported a universal program.
The midterm campaigns may also be changing the way that voters view economic questions in the first place. A CBS News/YouGov poll from August found that 60 percent of all U.S. adults think the economy is somewhat or very unfair. Eighty-three percent of Democrats in the survey said it was most important for Democrats “to show they are fighting for people,” and 68 percent said they should be talking about “big or fundamental changes in policies and approach, even if they are harder to do,” on economic issues.
In sum, people are furious at corporations, and they no longer see their well-being tied to what boardrooms want. That creates a new opportunity to tell a story about the role the government can play in making the economy fair and providing the basics—like housing and health care—that people need for a good life. The key is that Democrats can’t just win on that message. They’ll actually have to deliver next year. But if they do, 2026 could stand as one of the most consequential midterm elections in modern history: the year when voters stopped buying the argument that what’s good for Wall Street is good for Main Street.
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