95% of U.S. Adults Say Country Faces Affordability Crisis, Poll Finds
A Harris Poll survey conducted for The Guardian reveals near-universal concern about living costs, with fieldwork completed before the most recent round of federal tariff adjustments took effect —...
Ninety-five percent of U.S. adults believe the United States is experiencing an affordability crisis, according to a Harris Poll survey conducted for The Guardian and released Wednesday, July 2, 2026. The poll sampled U.S. adults and asked respondents to assess current living costs nationwide; the specific margin of error, sample size, and exact fieldwork dates were not fully disclosed in the initial published summary, and The Guardian's full methodology document would be the authoritative source for those figures.
The survey result places cost-of-living concerns at a level that spans traditional partisan divisions. Harris Poll, a publicly registered market research firm, conducted the poll on behalf of The Guardian; no government agency or political committee funded the survey, according to the published report. The Congressional Times was unable to independently verify the complete questionnaire wording at time of publication, which matters because question framing can influence response distributions in affordability polling.
The report was completed before the United States implemented its most recent schedule of tariff adjustments in 2026, according to The Guardian's own disclosure. That timing gap is material: the Congressional Budget Office, in its most recent economic outlook (CBO, May 2026), projected that broad-based import tariffs could add between 0.5 and 1.5 percentage points to consumer price index measurements over a 12-month horizon, depending on trade partner retaliation levels. Whether respondents would answer differently under current tariff conditions is unknown.
Federal data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 3.4 percent year-over-year as of the most recent monthly release available; the BLS publishes this figure monthly at bls.gov. Separately, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, has remained above the Fed's 2 percent target for more than 36 consecutive months, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis records.
Congressional responses to affordability concerns have taken divergent legislative forms. House Republicans passed H.R. 1 in May 2025 — a budget reconciliation package that included tax cut extensions — with proponents arguing the measure would reduce household burdens; the Congressional Budget Office scored the bill as adding approximately $3.8 trillion to the deficit over ten years (CBO cost estimate, May 2025). Senate Democrats have separately introduced the Affordable Prices Act (S. 1142, 119th Congress), which would authorize FTC oversight of price-gouging in essential goods sectors; that bill remains in committee as of publication date.
What remains unknown: the full Harris Poll methodology including sample size, margin of error, precise fieldwork dates, and sub-group breakdowns by income, region, and party affiliation. The Guardian's complete published report and Harris Poll's public methodology disclosure are the documents that would answer those questions. The Congressional Times will update this story when that information becomes available.