Affordability, Accountability, and What Voters Really Asked For
The 2026 Election, Part One
This morning I read an article by Brian Beutler and Greg Sargent in the NR (The New Republic) which was also in Beutler’s Off Message. It raised the very question I’ve been asking since the election: will the Democrats use their new congressional majorities to hold Trump to account or will they just go for affordability and avoid the hard fights? The authors pointed to incoming House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, who said, “We won on affordability. And now it’s our job to govern on affordability.” Fair enough. Americans are tired of paying more for groceries, housing, health care, and nearly everything else. They expect relief.
But I don’t think affordability should be used as a reason to ignore accountability. Congress has more to do than just pass bills. It also needs to oversee how the president uses power and spends taxpayer money. Surely Congress can learn to walk and chew gum at the same time.
This made me wonder what voters really wanted. I looked at national polls from before and after the November 3 election. The results were more complicated than I expected.
Two Issues, One Election
In October, Pew Research Center asked voters which issues mattered most in their congressional vote. The economy topped the list at 84%. The future of democracy followed at 73%. Health care, education, and immigration rounded out the top five. Among supporters of Democratic candidates, 88% considered the economy very important, while 85% said the same about democracy.
Supporters of Republican candidates weren’t far behind on the economy, with 82% saying it was very important. More surprisingly, 69% also considered democracy very important. Nearly seven in ten Republicans were concerned about democracy. That’s worth examining. Voters from both parties were worried about the country’s future, but they had very different views on what the main threats were.
Everyone Wants Accountability. The Details Get Messy.
The Associated Press conducted a massive voter survey during the election. About seven in ten voters said Congress wasn’t doing enough to check presidential power. That included roughly four in ten Republicans. More than half said government corruption was a key reason for their vote. That seems like a clear demand for accountability, but we need to look at the details.
Pew found that 63% of supporters of Democratic candidates considered investigations into Trump and his administration very important. Among supporters of Republican candidates, that figure dropped to just 7%. After the election, Reuters/Ipsos found that 71% of Democrats wanted Congress to devote substantial attention to investigating Trump. Only 10% of Republicans agreed. It seems everyone wants accountability, but people disagree once a specific person is named as the one who should be held accountable.
Impeachment was even more divisive. Only 33% of Americans thought impeaching Trump would be good for the country, while 42% thought it would be bad. The message is clear: Americans want Congress to check presidential power, but they strongly disagree on how Congress should do that.
Saving Democracy Means What, Exactly?
Another Reuters/Ipsos survey asked voters which democratic safeguard Congress should prioritize. Among Republicans, 73% chose election security and preventing fraud. Democrats were more concerned about protecting voting access, peaceful transfers of power, and keeping courts and law enforcement independent.
So both sides claim to defend democracy, but they are concerned about different threats. Still, there was important common ground. A separate Ipsos survey found that 86% believed Trump should obey court rulings, even when he disagreed. Large majorities also supported independent federal prosecutors and investigators.
These results show that Americans have some shared expectations about the rule of law. But it’s another question whether people expect those principles to be enforced when their own party is in the White House.
About Those Grocery Bills
On affordability, voters were remarkably consistent. Across party lines, Americans wanted Congress to address rising living costs. In the post-election Reuters/Ipsos survey, 78% wanted Congress to devote substantial attention to affordability during its first 100 days.
That’s a demand Congress should take seriously.
But presidential decisions can directly affect what Americans pay. Tariffs are one example, but federal spending and military actions can also affect prices. In the same post-election survey, 62% supported legislation removing Trump’s tariffs. Another 71% supported congressional action to end the war with Iran, including 51% of Republicans. These are examples of how Congress can use its authority to influence decisions that affect the economy.
When government officials misuse public money or power, Congress should investigate. We also need to find out how much certain executive actions have cost American households. That’s a subject worth pursuing.
What Did Voters Really Ask For?
I began this research expecting a clear answer, but instead I found that Americans share serious concerns, even though they disagree on how to solve them. Affordability matters enormously. So does accountability. The polling shows broad support for checks on presidential power, although voters differ sharply over investigations, impeachment, and what threatens democracy itself. This gives Congress a more complicated mandate than either party might want to admit.
I agree with Beutler and Sargent that Democrats must take their constitutional responsibilities seriously. Their election victory gives them the authority to investigate executive misconduct, examine government spending, and challenge abuses of power. They also have a responsibility to address the economic problems voters made so clear. I’m concerned that Democratic leaders might see the election results too narrowly, focusing only on affordability and missing voters’ concerns about corruption and presidential power.
The polls don’t support such a simple reading. The polls show that the new Congress has a tough job. It needs to address household costs and also figure out how to use its oversight powers with an administration that might push back.
This leads to my next question: What can Congress do if the executive branch refuses to cooperate, and how might using those powers affect the economic problems Americans want solved?
