Global crude benchmarks fall as The Big Money Show analyzes the market impact of diplomatic efforts between the United States and Iran, possible military action and the fight against gas prices.
Voters will vote in the midterm elections on Tuesday, with cost of living concerns taking center stage as Americans head to the polls.
A Fox News survey conducted October 9-12 found that six in 10 voters said the cost of living was their top economic concern heading into Election Day.
A majority of 74% of respondents gave the economy a negative rating, while 53% said they expected the situation to worsen next year. Only 18% of voters said their family was in a better situation than two years ago.
Inflation is well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate, with the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) showing a 3.7% rise on an annual basis in September. This increase is mainly explained by the monthly increase in gasoline prices of 9.1%, or 34.2% more than a year ago.
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Affordability is a top economic concern for voters as the election approaches. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images)
Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told FOX Business that gas prices play a central role in voters’ assessment of affordability issues in the economy.
“You can look at the overall household budget and fuels are only a part of that, but it’s the only thing we know what we’re paying for down to the tenth of a cent, so it has a huge influence on how people view the economy and whether things are affordable,” Lieberman said.
“If it hadn’t been for the war in Iran, I think the perception would have been much better because gas prices would have been lower,” he added.
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Lieberman noted that consumer inflation has eased in recent years from the post-pandemic peak of 9.1% that occurred in June 2022, but stressed that prices generally will not return to the level they were at before this inflation surge.
“One thing to keep in mind is the high inflation of past years. We are not getting reimbursed for that. Prices are not going back to where they were, it’s like a new plateau. So there is the perception of high prices in food products, although overall it may not be that bad,” he said.
Lieberman said “people have to cut back on other things. I think you may have seen a little bit of that last summer with people kind of cutting back on their vacation plans, for example.”
Gas prices have soared this year due to the impact of the war in Iran on Middle East oil supplies. (Mr. Scott Brauer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Olivia Mitchell, a professor of economics and public policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told FOX Business that affordability was “one of the key issues in the midterm elections, creating a political challenge for Republicans who campaigned on lowering prices and improving the well-being of Americans.”
Mitchell said it is “very clear that inflation has picked up again” after trending downward since the post-pandemic peak of 9.1% in 2022. CPI inflation was as low as 2.3% in 2025 and started 2026 with a reading of 2.4% in January, but has since risen to 3.7%.
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Consumer inflation exceeds the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
She added that households continue to face high mortgage rates, auto loans, credit card balances and other forms of consumer debt, making it more difficult for families to rebuild their savings or prepare for retirement.
“Tariffs definitely make a lot of what we consume more expensive, which leads to consumer frustration, which I think will in turn be reflected in the midterm elections,” she added.
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“Ultimately, the affordability debate will force policymakers to go beyond general assertions about economic growth and demonstrate much more convincingly how their policies will improve financial security in the daily lives of our households,” Mitchell said.
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