“The affordability election that teaches Democrats nothing”

Key points

• Polling shows half of Americans rank cost of living among top issues.
• Democrats lead on affordability but face internal tensions over priorities.
• Voters want both lowering costs and opposing Trump, causing potential policy tradeoffs.
• Democrats’ advantage on affordability widened from 2 to 17 points within a year.
• voters worry about learning to govern beyond defeating Trump and bridging divides.