Midterm vote is about 'what's best for my family': Voters talk 2026 midterms
asserted
Voters → talk → midterms
ABC News spoke with voters in Alaska, Iowa, New Hampshire and Maine.
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News → speak → Alaska
Josh York, a retired Army major who now works in health care administration in Anchorage, Alaska, has seen firsthand how high prices for fuel have kept Alaskans off the road.
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prices → work → road
“The gas prices don't seem to be coming down, and believe me, I watch,” York, a three-time Trump voter, told ABC News.
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York → seem → News
“Recently, we were out in the middle of rural Alaska, and we were paying $8.99 a gallon for gas,” York said, blaming the higher prices on the Iran war.
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York → pay → war
That war has substantially slowed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, experts say, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas transited before the war.
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fifth → slow → war
The economy is on Americans’ minds across the country ahead of midterm elections on Nov. 3, when voters in a handful of key states will wield outsize impact on control of the United States Congress.
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voters → wield → Congress
ABC News traveled to those states -- Alaska, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Maine -- finding many Americans who are frustrated with their personal finances and aware their vote would be a referendum on President Donald Trump’s job performance.
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vote → travel → performance
The Frontier state
Trump traveled outside the continental United States this week to boost Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces a reelection challenge from Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola – one of four seats the Democrats hope they can capture to win control of the U.S. Senate.
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they → travel → Senate
The president defended the war against Iran, telling Alaskans the war would end soon and prices would come down when it did, and said his opponents had made the election about affordability.
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election → defend → affordability
“Every time they want to try and get me, they say 'affordability, sir.
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they → want → affordability
I said, 'They caused the problem,’ he said at a rally in Wasilla, 45 miles north of Anchorage.
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he → say → Anchorage
“But we have reduced it very substantially.’
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we → reduce → it
The Senate race – analyzed as a toss-up in a state where Trump won by 13 points in 2024 – is reflecting the price pressures of voters.
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Trump → analyze → voters
The president’s polling numbers have plummeted to record lows in recent months.
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numbers → plummet → months
Just over half of Americans, 52%, strongly disapprove of Trump, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll.
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half → disapprove → poll
Sullivan, who is aligned with Trump and has backed the Iran war, acknowledged the conflict was causing higher prices and said it should end “soon.”
One voter said heating costs in Fairbanks had even exceeded mortgage costs.
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costs → align → costs
York told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, co-anchor of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," that even though he’s voted for Trump, he disapproved of the president across the board: in his handling of the economy, the Iran war and the overall direction the president was taking the country.
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president → tell → country
York, unsure about his decision between the candidates, said his vote would come down to the economy.
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vote → say → economy
“I know that they both have their ideas for Alaska and how they want to do things.
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they → know → things
And I'm not gonna say one's right versus the other being wrong,” he said.
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he → go → ?
“But at this point, I've got to look at what's best for my family.
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what → get → family
I've got to look at what's best for my kids.”
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what → get → kids
In America’s heartland, voters told ABC News energy prices and the president’s trade policy were animating discussions around the midterm elections, including in a competitive Iowa senate race.
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prices → tell → race
The rising diesel prices have crunched farmers who rely on diesel for transport.
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who → rise → transport
“Our tanks over there hold 3,500 gallons.
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tanks → hold → gallons
It costs $20,000 now to fill them.
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It → cost → them
A year ago it cost [about] $12,000,” said cattle farmer Dan Pederson, who voted for the president three times.
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who → cost → president
“The ripple effect – hauling cattle, pickups, trucks, everything [is] just-- it's just astronomical.
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it → haul → cattle
It's crazy,” he said.
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he → say → ?
Pederson said among his “staunch Republican friends” there was a lot of “wavering” on Trump.
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Pederson → say → Trump
The Republican candidate for the Senate seat, Rep. Ashley Hinson, has broken with the president, urging him to bring the Iran war to an end.
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candidate → break → end
The president announced an extraordinary remedy to the price of diesel last week, saying in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the two leaders had agreed to a “diesel deal” that would allow Russian diesel, largely blocked by sanctions and trapped because of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, to enter world markets.
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diesel → announce → markets
Many Republican lawmakers said the president’s move would benefit an autocratic government that invaded its neighbor, Ukraine.
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that → say → neighbor
“We need to lower gas prices in this country,” Hinson said.
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Hinson → need → country
“We need to lower diesel prices, but I don't think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it.”
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we → need → it
In neighboring Nebraska, Republican congressman Don Bacon, who is stepping away from his own seat, said Republicans’ formula of backing Trump could prove costly.
uncertain
formula → neighbor → Trump
The Republican worries about his party’s odds in traditionally red Nebraska and Kansas, midwestern Senate races where Democrats hope to manage surprise victories, he told Raddatz.
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he → hope → Raddatz
He credited his own independent streak with his own election victories.
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He → credit → victories
“You got to be able to show that you're your own person and you represent the district,” he said.
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he → got → district
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
