Affordability crisis isn't hitting all voters equally. Here's why
The affordability crisis in the U.S. is impacting younger households more severely than older Americans. Seniors are generally more insulated due to home ownership, lower reliance on childcare, and inflation-protected Social Security benefits.
Why it matters
Understanding the demographic divide in economic hardship is critical for predicting voter behavior and policy priorities in the upcoming midterm elections.
Affordability is a major theme of the upcoming midterm elections — one that could have implications for how people vote in November.
But not all households are feeling the financial strain equally, according to economists and political experts.
Specifically, older Americans are more insulated from the affordability crunch than younger households such as millennials, the experts said.
"Affordability is the central issue in the forthcoming midterm elections," said William Galston, a senior fellow and chair of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. "Nothing else is close."
"Who's feeling these pressures the least? Seniors," he said.
This isn't to say that older Americans — generally, those age 65 and older — aren't feeling any financial pressures .
They're certainly paying more for food, gasoline, electricity and other items like everybody else amid stubbornly high inflation , economists said.
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