Housing costs top political issue for young voters, CNBC survey finds

The cost of housing is the top political issue — ranked higher than the cost of food or protecting democracy — among U.S. voters between 18- and 34-years-old, a CNBC survey found.

CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey for the second quarter of 2026, which polled 1,000 registered voters across the country, found the cost of housing is a salient issue, particularly among the kinds of young voters that both parties are hoping to court heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

“It was my contention and the contention of some other people that Democrats had a huge miss in 2024 by not talking more about healthcare. It is an issue where Democrats have had an advantage in polling for a long time,” said Jay Campbell, a partner at Hart Research, the Democratic pollster for the survey.

“I think housing could be the healthcare of 2024, given especially the need for Democrats to turn young people out who are inclined to be anti-Trump and pro-democratic,” Campbell said. 

According to survey participants, who were interviewed between July 8 and 12, the costs of housing and healthcare were tied for the fourth-most important issue facing the country right now, trailing the cost of food and groceries, protecting democracy, and immigration and border security. It was the most important issue for male respondents between ages 18- and 49-years-old and second-most important for those respondents of all genders between 35- and 49-years old, after the cost of food and groceries.

Housing concerns are fueled by factors including expenses relative to income and ballooning mortgage costs driven by rising insurance and property taxes. Forty-nine percent of households that rent spent more than 30% of their income on housing, a June report by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found. Of those 22.7 million households, 12.1 million pay more than half of their income for housing, the report found.

The importance of housing costs split somewhat along partisan lines. Self-described Democrats surveyed said it was the third-most important issue, behind only the cost of food and protecting democracy. Independents also gave highest priority to food costs and democracy, followed by immigration and border security, with housing costs in fourth. 

Republicans, meanwhile, list the issue lower among their top priorities, instead focusing on immigration, the cost of food and Iran.

The affordability election

Affordability and cost of living have been the buzzwords leading into the midterms, and both parties have tried to own the issue of housing.

A bipartisan bill, aimed at increasing housing supply, lowering the cost to rent or buy homes, and limiting the role of private equity in the housing market, advanced out of Congress with overwhelming support in June. 

Its passage could have led to a victory lap for Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House. But President Donald Trump canceled a planned signing ceremony on such short notice that it had already been set up at the Capitol and then refused to sign the bill, which he called a “big yawn.”

The bill became law earlier this month even without Trump’s blessing based on a technicality.

The episode was the latest example of Trump and Republicans failing to prioritize cost of living, Democrats said, as the president returns to themes of the Iran war and passing a national voter ID law.

Democrats are widely projected to win back the House, while the path to a Senate majority is more arduous. And they own an advantage on housing, according to the CNBC survey.

Of those surveyed, 38% said Democrats would do a better job on housing, while 32% gave the nod to Republicans. Among respondents who ranked the cost of housing as a top two issue, 53% said Democrats would do a better job than Republicans.

Frustration over housing costs tracks with a broader trend of consumer angst amid inflation and the war with Iran. Sixty percent of those polled said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, 63% disapproved of his handling of the situation with Iran, and 68% disapproved of the administration’s job on inflation and cost of living.

Asked who they’d prefer to control Congress after the midterms, respondents gave Democrats a slight — 49% to 45% — edge over Republicans. The margin of error for the survey is 3.1%.

“Americans are struggling with rising rents, unaffordable home prices, and costly mortgage rates — all happening under Republican rule,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement. “Voters blame Republicans for their broken promises to lower housing costs, and Trump’s refusal to address this affordability crisis has left vulnerable Republicans looking like incompetent stooges incapable of delivering on pocketbook issues.”

The perception that “Republicans don’t give a damn about the issue,” has given Democrats an opening, Shelton said.

But Republicans aren’t ready to cede ground on the issue, noting that while Trump refrained from signing the bill, he also didn’t veto it, as he could have.

“Democrats have spent years fueling a housing crisis with their failed policies. Republicans have taken real action to build more homes, 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.