Democrats are desperate to make the 2026 midterm elections about affordability, buoyed by their November victories, enthusiasm for their so-called Abundance Agenda, and polling showing President Donald Trump losing support on the economy.
Prices remain stubbornly high, driven by long-term supply chain issues, elevated inflation, and economic factors beyond President Trump’s control. But the policies championed by the Democrats would make the problem significantly worse.
The Democratic Party has long supported direct government intervention in the economy to lower prices. For example, even before being energized by socialist darling Zohran Mamdani, polling revealed that a shocking 80% of Democrats support price controls.
Price controls not only demand increased, costly government bureaucracy for enforcement, but also don’t solve the root cause of the problem. As researchers have shown, price controls lead to rationing and corruption, as people and organizations lobby government authorities for preferential treatment, while also failing to suppress inflation, which returns as soon as the price controls are loosened. In other words, the politically connected will receive the benefits while the rest of American households will suffer.
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