Solving the Affordability Crisis Is the Key to Rebuilding Faith in Our Democracy

Debates over who is to blame for these crises have devolved into a spiral of partisan acrimony. And while undoubtedly partisan interests have exacerbated the problem, at the root of these challenges is a deeper and more fundamental issue: Can we prove that democracy is the best form of American government? Now, more than ever, if we’re going to answer yes to that question, the solutions will come from state governments and state elected officials. 

After the 2025 elections were broadly defined as the “affordability elections,” I believe my home state of Virginia now provides a road map for how an affordability agenda can be an electoral winner as well as a way to shore up faith in the democratic process. 

Voters themselves see these crises as fundamentally interconnected. An APVoteCast survey done just before the 2024 election found that roughly 4 in 10 voters identified the economy and jobs as the most important issues facing the country. Simultaneously, about half of voters identified the future of democracy as the single most important factor influencing their vote. When you dig a little deeper, that survey found that about 8 in 10 voters wanted at least substantial change in how the country is run, including about a quarter who said they wanted complete and total upheaval. 

These findings mirror more recent research from the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School that showed only 13% of 18 to 29 year olds believe the country is headed in the right direction, driven by dual fears about deep economic insecurity and eroding trust in democratic institutions. This sentiment is echoed by national leaders, with former Vice President Kamala Harris saying in December that “we cannot be nostalgic for a flawed status quo and system that failed so many.”

We’ve seen in other countries that when people feel they’ve been left behind economically, they’re more likely to support authoritarian forms of government. A 2024 study from the University of Chicago found a robust statistical association between a country’s heightened income inequality and its democratic erosion or backsliding. How can we prevent that from happening here? 

Let’s first break down some of the essentials of what’s animating each of these crises. 

Voters now see an increasingly unbalanced economy between the middle class and the richest Americans. Tariffs in particular are causing prices to rise even further—about 5% on average but for as much as 9% for essential goods like clothing. At the same time, Elon Musk is on pace to become the world’s first trillionaire. And with the labor market essentially flat—with fewer new jobs created throughout 2025—the dream of upward mobility feels extremely narrow for most Americans.

As people struggle to hold onto their jobs and afford the basics of daily living, watching the president hawk Teslas on the White House lawn or grant tariff exemptions to big donors helps us understand why two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government is corrupt. Voters see a government that’s not focused on their needs, but instead on big corporations, special interests, and billionaire donors. 

Neither party appears to understand the depth of frustration. Only one-third of voters in a recent survey approved of Republicans’ handling of the economy. At the same time, nearly two-thirds of voters said they believe the Democratic Party has the wrong priorities: 56% said Democrats don’t look out for working people; 69% said they are too focused on being politically correct; and only 27% said they believe Democrats are looking out for them. 

Americans see two political parties that ignore their priorities in a system that works for other people, not for them. Some might even call that system rigged, supported by Pew Center research that has shown 70% of voters believe the U.S. economy unfairly favors powerful interests. This is the connective tissue between the affordability crisis and the crisis of faith in democracy. When voters feel the government is corrupt and both unable and unwilling to solve their real and present economic challenges, they are more willing to blow everything up.

Voters continue to believe that the government broadly has the ability to make their lives better. That’s why we’ve seen generally higher voter-turnout rates in recent years, as well as voters choosing candidates who promise solutions to the problems that keep them up at night. Majorities of voters say they want the government to play a major role in lowering costs, even as their confidence in that possibility declines.

But government can take many forms. For those of us who believe a democratic system is the most fair, just, and representative form of governance, we should recognize that its failure to address the affordability crisis is part of what undermines people’s faith in the process. To restore it, voters need to be able to make a tangible connection between their improved circumstances and the actions of an effective democratic government. When voters feel their voices are being heard, it is reflected in their levels of social and political trust. 

On the flip side, when voters believe democratic governance is not working to make their lives better, they become increasingly open to forms of government that promise to address those needs. It is no coincidence that a recent Kettering Foundation-Gallup survey found that roughly half of Americans said democracy is functioning poorly. 

Nor is it a surprise that the Americans who show the most openness to alternative forms of rule are the ones experiencing the greatest economic stress. A recent Harvard Youth Poll found that nearly half of all young people say they are struggling financially or barely getting by. And in 2023, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy released research showing that only 37% of millennials and 27% of Gen Z believe democracy is the best form of government, with one in ten adults from those generations saying dictatorship could be good in certain circumstances.

When so many voters—especially our youngest voting-age generations—are not bound to one political party or ideology, we must pay attention and course-correct. Luckily, the disaffection from politics is not irreversible. We’ve seen young people participate enthusiastically in democracy when candidates make them feel seen. 

Consider Zohran Mamdani’s ability to expand and reshape the electorate in New York City, where historic numbers of young voters turned out for him, by a 3:1 margin. He brought in new voters who had become disengaged from a system they perceived as not working for them. It’s no mistake that at a time when trust in government is low—according to Gallup research, at its lowest since measurements began in 1972—and the favorability ratings of political parties hover at around 40%, an increasing number of voters are committed not to any party or candidate but to candidates who speak directly to their economic concerns.

To ensure the long-term health of our democracy, we must actually solve voters’ problems. We need to make people’s lives better—and, just as important, make them feel that their lives are getting better.

While different states have their own economic challenges, many financial struggles are felt across the entire nation, meaning we can assemble a pro-affordability, pro–middle class state-based policy agenda that any legislator can champion, regardless of party. The top economic stressors for voters include the high costs of housing, food and consumer goods, and energy. Here’s how we begin to address that. 

Fight corporate price gouging. Grocery prices have soared 25% in four years, exacerbating a hunger problem across the country. While tariffs and inflation have contributed to the higher cost of groceries, we must also examine the practice of price gouging among grocery chains, as illustrated recently by the Federal Trade Commission. States can act on a variety of consumer-protection measures, including banning surveillance pricing, which uses a shopper’s browsing history and data to target them with price hikes.

Building more housing. A shortage of 4.7 million homes nationally emphasizes the massive scope of the crisis in housing costs. Rents and the cost of purchasing a home nationwide are growing faster than incomes, meaning a larger portion of take-home pay and savings are being swallowed up by housing costs. When a massive shortage causes a spike in the price of a product, we need more of that product. An estimated 82% of Americans support governments doing more to support home construction. States can lead on zoning and regulatory reform and investments that allow faster permitting and construction of denser housing, even if it means overruling local authorities in certain cases where not enough homes are being built.

Lower healthcare costs by making prescription drugs more affordable. Since the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, research has consistently shown that the most popular aspect of the sweeping policy was allowing Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Among 35 typically Democratic policies tested in recent research, the most popular was expanding that negotiating power beyond Medicare recipients to include more drugs. States can do this by passing Prescription Drug Affordability Boards that model the success of the Inflation Reduction Act’s work to lower healthcare costs for Medicare enrollees, and by using state authority to set payment limits for all consumers in a given state. Prioritizing action on this issue shows voters that elected officials are fighting against Big Pharma, America’s most-disliked industry. 

Lower energy costs while creating new jobs. Electricity prices have risen by nearly 10% over the past year, and 32% over the past five years. A major driver of that increase has been the exploding growth of AI data centers, which consumed 4% of the country’s electricity in 2023 and are projected to consume 12% by 2028. Simply put, we need more energy to meet this rising demand. The best way to do that is by turbocharging our domestic energy production with the cheapest form, solar. Especially when paired with increased battery storage, more solar will lead to dramatically lower electricity prices for decades to come. States can mandate the build-out of local solar and battery capacity, which is a massive job creator. In response to the main source of rising demand, states should also hold data centers and tech companies accountable for their share of the cost, including generation and transmission, as well as their impact on communities, ranging from noise pollution to water quality and environmental protection. 

Support parents and working families by making the tax code fairer. As the pandemic laid bare, parents and families in America are struggling to keep up. Two ways we can make life easier are by ensuring that everyone has access to paid family and medical leave and affordable and quality childcare. Pro-family policies are consistently shown to be supported by supermajorities of voters, the significant barrier being that they require government investment. At the state level, policymakers can ensure we’re delivering pro-family policies that make life better in immediate and tangible ways, and they can do that by paying for these popular programs through closing unfair tax loopholes for corporations and the rich, consistently shown to be supported by 3 in 4 voters.

In my home Commonwealth of Virginia, 2026 is kicking off with a new opportunity to execute on a pro-affordability and popular economic agenda that includes all of the above policies. After our landslide affordability-focused 2025 election, we are poised to pass laws to make housing, childcare, energy, and medicine more affordable. 

After our legislative session ends in March, the real work will have only just begun. The crucial next step requires elected officials to sell the new legislation to the public, and to ensure that all voters feel that their lives are improving. Doing this will firm up the belief that democracy is working, that their voices have been heard, and that their elected leaders are fixing their problems. This can be a pathway to improving faith in democratic governance and solving the affordability crisis not just in a single state, but across the country.