American Family Survey confirms voter concerns about inflation

SALT LAKE CITY — With less than a week to go before the midterm election, the big political question remains what do voters really care about?

Despite the current degree of political polarization, a national independent survey by Brigham Young University and The Deseret News found surprising unanimity of opinion in the U.S. population on at least one issue.

Democrats are pinning their hopes in the upcoming election on hot-button issues like abortion rights and immigration.

Republicans — including U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) — say that inflation is the #1 concern on the minds of Americans.

The BYU/D-News survey found that an overwhelming majority of Americans side with the GOP going into the final week prior to the election.

Americans are more worried about inflation than any other concern and about a third of them primarily blame the Biden administration and its policies for inflation.

The national survey, the results of which were released in October, found that 89 percent of respondents were at least somewhat worried about how the current rate of inflation (about 8 percent on a national level and a staggering 15.5 percent here in Utah) is impacting their family finances.

Another 56 percent of survey respondents admitted that they were very worried.

Sixty-five percent of Americans added that they were particularly worried about the rising costs of raising children in these inflationary times.

Since 2015, the annual American Family Survey has tested the pulse of U.S. households on topics like inflation, abortion, education, race and gender identity.

Commissioned by BYU’s Center for the Study of Election and Democracy and The Deseret News, YouGov polled the opinions of 3,000 adults across the nation.

The survey’s results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percent.

Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of its 1973 decision in Roe V. Wade this past summer, however, the survey found sharp divisions on the issue of abortion.

About 45 percent of moderate Republicans and 83 percent of liberal Democrats believe strongly that there should be a national law guaranteeing abortion rights.

Meanwhile, 69 percent of conservative Republicans and 34 percent of moderate Democrats say that abortion should remain the province of the state legislatures.

With regard to the simmering issue of equality, the survey found that Americans expressed more support for racial equality than for sex or gender equality.

They were also more likely to endorse the idea of “inclusion” rather than rejecting racism, sexism or homophobia.

Slightly more than 60 percent of Americans supporting the idea that public schools should actively teach students to reject racism, the survey found.

But large percentages of Republicans prefer that those issues be handled by parents, not school teachers.

For example, nearly 70 percent of moderate Republicans prefer that parents teach their children about issues of sexual orientation and gender identify while another 60 percent believe parents should teach about racial identity.

The state’s oldest continuously operating business, the Deseret News was founded in 1850 and remains committed to being a standard-bearer of journalistic integrity and principles reporting.

The Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy (CSED) at Brigham Young University is a nonpartisan academic research center seeking to increase knowledge about the practice of American democracy.

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4 Comments

  • KA November 2, 2022 at 7:14 am Reply

    So what’s the Republican plan to fight inflation (which is global, by the way)? I’ve literally heard nothing specific.

    • Fred S November 2, 2022 at 5:45 pm Reply

      “Same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world.”

      Also, tax cuts for the rich, trickle down economics, same old horse manure as ever.

  • Reavers November 3, 2022 at 8:26 am Reply

    What a joke! Lee isnt worried about inflation, why shoul he be? Hes wealthy and not a Ststesman.

    • Jim jones November 4, 2022 at 6:54 am Reply

      Either way this election the crazies win. Where is the meteor?

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