U.S. Politics
The Economy and the Election: What Actually Matters to Voters in 2024
Report summary
The economy is voters' top issue this election. What about the economy is driving concerns? And how is it shaping their voting preferences?
The economy has been front and center in the U.S. presidential election as voters once again rate it as their most important issue. While many voters are unsatisfied with the current economy, they say Vice President Kamala Harris is less responsible than President Biden. Throughout this election cycle, voters consistently said they trusted former President Trump over Biden to handle the economy, but Harris has closed that gap. Preventing price gouging in a crisis and capping prescription drug prices are the most popular policies among undecided voters who are generally less enthusiastic on economic solutions put forward by both candidates.
Key Takeaways
- Voters rate the economy as the most important issue in choosing the next U.S. president while partisanship heavily colors their views on the health of the economy.
- Kamala Harris has managed to evade some of the responsibility for voters’ gripes with the current economy, helping her to gain more trust than President Biden across all economic issues and allowing her to compete head-to-head with Donald Trump.
- Undecided voters are most supportive of price gouging laws and capping prescription drug prices, both of which are policies put forward by the Harris campaign.
Data Downloads
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Highlights from this report
Policies most popular with undecided voters are preventing price gouging in a crisis and capping prices for prescription drugs, both of which are polices that were put forward by the Harris campaign. In fact, aside from decreasing federal income taxes, most of the solutions that resonate with undecided voters are associated with Harris. The least popular proposals have more undecided voters opposing them than supporting - more presidential powers over the Federal Reserve and increased tariffs, both policies touted by Trump.
Undecided voters slightly favor policies put forward by the Harris campaign
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Methodology
Morning Consult data featured in this report draws primarily from a survey conducted August 26 – August 28, 2024 among a sample of 2202 registered voters. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of registered voters based on gender by age, educational attainment, race, marital status, home ownership, race by educational attainment, 2020 presidential vote, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Also included in this report is data from Morning Consult’s daily Index of Consumer Sentiment and weekly U.S. politics tracker. Both of which have data available to download.
About the author
Sofia Baig is an economist at decision intelligence company Morning Consult, where she works on descriptive and predictive analysis that leverages Morning Consult’s proprietary high-frequency data. Previously, she worked for the Federal Reserve Board as a quantitative analyst, focusing on topics related to monetary policy and bank stress testing. She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Pomona College and a master’s degree in mathematics and statistics from Georgetown University.
Follow her on Twitter @_SofiaBaig_For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected]
