KFF Analysis: The Issues that Mattered on Election Day

November 10, 2022

Inflation and the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade were among the key issues on voters’ minds during the 2022 election, according to new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Associated Press.

On Wednesday, KFF and the Associated Press released their review of a national midterm election survey, which included a closer look at the key health care issues that mattered to voters this year.

“Despite the clamor about gas prices, the high cost of food was by far the top inflation-related concern that voters said was a factor in their vote,” the report noted. “Health and prescription drug prices were also in the mix, just trailing gas prices and about the same as utilities and housing costs, underscoring that voters see health as a pocketbook issue.”

Among the key takeaways:

• The nation’s most important issue:  Voters identified the economy and jobs (47%), immigration (9%), abortion (9%), and climate change (9%) as the most important issues facing the country. Fewer voters identified health care (7%) and COVID-19 (2%) as the nation’s top issue.
• Decision points:  The single most important issues factoring into voters’ decisions were inflation increasing prices for gas, groceries, and other goods (51%); the future of democracy (44%); abortion (25%); and crime (25%).
• Pennsylvania perspective:  For Pennsylvania, about 38 percent of voters reported the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade influenced their decision to vote and 18 percent said it played a minor role.
• Top inflation concerns:  Among those who said inflation was a factor in their vote, the most important concerns were groceries (47%), gas and transportation (16%), housing (11%), utilities (10%), and health care and prescription drugs (9%).
• By party:  For those who said inflation was a factor, the cost of health care and prescription drugs was the most important concern for more Democratic (14%) than Republican (5%) and Independent (9%) voters.

The Associated Press VoteCast is a national survey of 2022 midterm voters from October 31 through the close of polls on Tuesday.

The report, as well as an interactive dashboard, is available online.