- Climate impacts are increasingly hitting household budgets via higher electricity, insurance, groceries, transportation, and housing costs.
- The economy outranks climate for midterms voters, but everyday cost concerns are increasingly linked to environmental changes.
- Surveys find most voters see global warming raising their bills: 64% say it affects their cost of living, including utilities and groceries.
- Candidates are framing climate through immediate costs, citing data centers and rising electricity bills as campaign issues in Texas and Ohio.
For years, climate change has struggled to compete with more immediate concerns at the ballot box, in part because its worst consequences could seem far off into the future. But that distinction is getting harder to make: For a growing number of Americans, the effects are already showing up in their monthly bills.
From higher electricity costs during extreme heat to soaring insurance premiums in disaster-prone areas, climate-related pressures are now directly affecting Americans' wallets. With affordability dominating the midterm elections, climate change might finally get more attention.
But voters aren't calling it "climate change." Here's why — and what the latest polling tells us.
Affordability is already dominating the midterm elections
The rising cost of everyday necessities certainly is understandably top of mind for voters right now.
According to a KFF poll released in October, 90 percent of voters say the cost of living is a very or extremely important issue for candidates to discuss in the final weeks of the midterm campaigns. More than half are concerned about affording food (52 percent) and utilities (51 percent), while 41 percent say the same about housing costs. Meanwhile, 25 percent rank gas and transportation costs among their biggest financial worries.
And those concerns cut across party lines. That same month, Pew Research Center found that 84 percent of registered voters consider the economy very important to their vote, making it the top issue for both Democrats and Republicans. By comparison, just 41 percent said the same about environmental and climate policy.
But what do all these expenses have in common? They're impacted by environmental changes.
Americans are increasingly connecting climate change to their household expenses
A spring 2026 survey from Yale and George Mason University found that 64 percent of registered voters believe global warming is affecting their personal cost of living at least a little. Two-thirds (66 percent) said global warming is increasing their utility bills, while 61 percent said it's making groceries more expensive. More than half also pointed out the rising cost of owning and operating a vehicle (56 percent) and homeowners insurance (51 percent).
Those concerns aren't unfounded. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, hotter temperatures mean more electricity use for air conditioning — and potentially higher household electricity bills.
Meanwhile, a 2025 Treasury Department report found that insurers face higher costs in areas with the greatest climate-related risks. Claims in the highest-risk ZIP codes were both more frequent and more expensive, averaging about $24,000, compared with $19,000 in the lowest-risk areas. According to the USDA, climate change is threatening food production through more frequent droughts, heat waves, and flooding, which can damage crops and reduce harvests.
Other factors also influence energy prices, insurance premiums, and grocery bills. But extreme weather and other climate-related disruptions can inflate costs.
New polling suggests voters want politicians to talk more about climate change
The Environmental Voter Project's September survey of "likely midterm voters" found that 59 percent want politicians to spend more time discussing climate change and pollution, compared with just 17 percent who want them to put their energy elsewhere. (If you're one of these interested voters, check out our conversation with former Republican Sen. Bill Frist about how we can reach across-the-aisle agreements on the environment.)
Climate change still isn't a top-tier voter priority, but nearly a quarter of Democrats in battleground states (23 percent) named climate change and pollution as one of the top three issues they want elected leaders to focus on.
The support was even stronger when voters were asked about specific policies. Majorities of Independents (76 percent) and Republicans (59 percent) said they would consider voting for candidates who want to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. Just 15 percent and 33 percent, respectively, said they would rule out supporting them.
The survey focused on eight Senate battleground states — Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Alaska — several of which are home to closely watched races this year. That makes these findings more indicative.
Still, Pew polling shows environmental and climate policy ranks well below the economy and several other issues. But the Environmental Voter Project findings suggest more political appetite for talking about climate change, especially when the conversation ties into issues voters already worry about, like affordability.
How climate change is already showing up in campaigns
So how is climate change entering the campaign conversation? Rather than focusing on emissions targets or rising global temperatures, candidates increasingly talk about energy and environmental policy through a more immediate lens: what voters pay each month.
Electricity bills are one example. S&P Global reported in October that rising energy costs and more households falling behind on utility payments have emerged as midterm issues, with candidates seizing on higher bills as part of the broader affordability debate.
That's playing out even in deep-red states like Texas, where Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has focused on the rapid expansion of energy-hungry data centers. He has argued that the facilities are driving up electricity costs and proposed requiring data centers to cover the cost of the new infrastructure needed to serve them, rather than passing those expenses on to residents. “Texans want innovation, but we must make sure AI data centers aren’t using up our water and jacking up our utility prices,” he said, according to the Texas Tribune.
A similar fight is also playing out in Ohio. Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown has made rising electricity costs and data centers central to his campaign against Republican Sen. Jon Husted, criticizing his opponent’s support for the projects as residents see their power bills climb. Husted, meanwhile, has championed federal legislation called the Ratepayer Protection Act, designed to prevent data centers from shifting the costs of new power infrastructure onto residential customers. (The bill overwhelmingly passed the House but was blocked in the Senate.)
Whether that translates into votes remains to be seen. In an election dominated by affordability, climate change might not come up by name, but it's clearly impacting who voters support.
