Exit Poll: 2022 Voters Supported Democratic Policies to Address Inflation, Including Holding Corporations Accountable and Investing in American Manufacturing
By Tenneth Fairclough II, Anika Dandekar, and Evangel Penumaka
Introduction
From November 8 to 10, 2022, Data for Progress, Groundwork Action, and Economic Security Project Action conducted an exit poll of 1,332 likely voters nationally following the U.S. midterm elections. The survey focused on the economy and assessed voters’ concerns about rising inflation and the increasing cost of living. It also examined which factors voters held responsible for causing inflation. Finally, the survey gauged voter support for several policies to address inflation and rising costs, including investing in domestic manufacturing, addressing corporate profiteering, and increasing taxes on the wealthy.
Key Findings
Voters were highly concerned about inflation as well as their personal financial conditions and the overall economy.
The majority of voters viewed corporate greed and price gouging as a top driver of inflation. “Large corporations have been unfairly raising their prices at the expense of consumers” was the message voters heard most from Democrats on inflation. This was also the most frequently heard Democratic message on inflation by Independents.
Voters strongly supported Democratic priorities to address inflation, including addressing corporate profiteering, investing in American manufacturing, increasing taxes on corporations, and expanding the Child Tax Credit.
Contrary to the predictions of many before the election, voters didn’t punish Democrats for taking bold action on the economy. In fact, these findings suggest that Democrats’ strong performance in the election was a result of their progressive economic agenda, not in spite of it.
Voters’ Attitudes Toward Inflation
We asked voters how concerned they were about inflation in the U.S. We found that close to two-thirds of voters (62 percent) were “very concerned” about inflation. This concern was shared across party lines, with 50 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of Independents, and 74 percent of Republicans saying they were very concerned. Voters also largely believed the economy as a whole was getting worse (76 percent) and that their personal financial situation was worsening (70 percent).
We then asked voters who they held responsible for inflation and rising costs. Options included the coronavirus pandemic, large corporations, the war in Ukraine, and pandemic aid spending by Congress. Sixty-two percent of voters held the pandemic’s impact on the economy, job market, and global supply chains responsible for inflation. Fifty-six percent of voters said that large corporations, like oil and gas companies, were taking advantage of inflation to raise prices and increase profits (including 73 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Independents). The impact of the war in Ukraine was far behind, at 37 percent.
Democratic Messages in the Midterms
Next we examined which issues and messaging voters heard the most about leading up to the November election. Voters heard the most from Democrats about abortion, student loan debt, climate change, and the economy. More than half of voters said they heard “a lot” about Democrats’ plans on abortion and student debt cancellation. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they saw, heard, or read “a lot” about Democrats’ plans for the economy, while 46 percent said they saw, heard, or read “some” about this issue.
We then provided respondents with several messages that they may have heard from Democrats on the economy and inflation. Voters were most aware of Democrats’ messaging on corporate greed: that large corporations had been raising their prices unfairly at the expense of consumers. This was closely followed by messaging about Republicans cutting programs like Medicare and Social Security.
Views Toward Policy Solutions to Address Inflation
We also examined how voters thought about solutions to address inflation and how they viewed President Biden’s actions to address inflation so far. Respondents first answered whether they would support or oppose a range of policy measures to help address inflation and the cost of living, from expanding clean energy production and creating green jobs to holding corporations accountable for rising prices. We found that the majority of voters strongly supported all of the policies polled, and there was overwhelming support for federal investments in domestic manufacturing, raising Social Security benefits, and holding corporations accountable for price gouging.
Cash Supports to Address Rising Costs
Despite Republican attempts to blame inflation on too much pandemic aid by the Biden Administration and Congress, only a bare majority of Republican voters backed this argument (54 percent), along with 31 percent of Independent voters and just 14 percent of Democrats.
While few voters saw the Child Tax Credit as the top element of Democrats' messaging on the economy and inflation, there was overwhelming interest in expanding the CTC as a solution to address inflation and reduce costs for families, as is expected to be considered in the upcoming lame duck session of Congress. Seventy percent of voters backed "supporting working families by expanding the Child Tax Credit" to address inflation, including Democrats by a +74-point margin, Independents by a +51-point margin, and Republicans by a +27-point margin.
Voters were also asked how they viewed Biden and the Democrats’ handling of inflation. A plurality of voters (43 percent) wanted Democrats to do more to address inflation. This included 27 percent of voters who wanted President Biden “to have done more to tackle corporate greed” and 16 percent who wanted more investments in American jobs and workers. Of the options, “They should have done more to tackle corporate greed” was the top choice among both Democrats (39 percent) and Independents (33 percent), and was the second-strongest overall even when factoring in Republicans, who overwhelmingly pointed to government spending as the primary issue.
Finally, when faced with the choice of bringing prices down by cutting government spending or investing in American manufacturing, supporting working families, and holding corporations and the wealthy accountable, a majority of voters, including a majority of Independents, supported the latter.
Our polling showed that while a majority of likely voters nationally were highly concerned about inflation, Democrats and Independents placed the blame squarely on the pandemic and corporate price gouging. Going forward, voters preferred to address inflation by holding corporations accountable for raising prices unfairly, raising Social Security benefits, investing in domestic manufacturing, and creating jobs in the U.S., as well as expanding the Child Tax Credit.
While Republicans believed that President Biden made inflation worse through government action, Democrats and, critically, Independents, strongly supported the administration’s bold actions on the economy and wanted that work to continue.
Tenneth Fairclough II (@tenten_wins) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Anika Dandekar (@anikadandekar) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Evangel Penumaka (@evangelpenumaka) is a lead analyst at Data for Progress.