Takeaways from AP’s reporting on how Arizona voters view the economy with the election close at hand
MESA, Ariz. — Arizona’s economy is booming in many ways, but for many voters in the presidential battleground state, it doesn’t feel that way when they consider their choices. on November 5.
Voters hear Democrats and Republicans promising to help the middle class if they win. But voters have heard that before and many say nothing has gotten better.
That disconnect is vivid in Arizona, where housing and other costs have soared.
Here are some key takeaways from Associated Press interviews with Arizona voters and economic experts about the economy and how Democratic Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump talk about it before election day:
Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, Mesa and Chandler, is booming.
The desert cities have been fueled by Americans flocking to seek the area’s eternal sunshine and desert beauty. It doesn’t hurt to have a strong job market, backed by big tech companies like TSMC And Googling who have expanded their footprint in the Phoenix area.
In fact, among the largest rural counties, Maricopa posted the largest percentage job growth yet this year, according to the Department of Labor.
Although there are plenty of jobs, housing has become more expensive. Maricopa home prices are almost doubled since 2016, Zillow says.
“Many voters see home prices and 30-year mortgage rates and compare that to the experience of their parents and grandparents and say, ‘I’m never going to own a house,’” said Glenn Farley, director of policy and research at the nonprofit. Common Sense Institute Arizona. “Until these things are back under control, voters will remain sour.”
Arizona voters from across the political spectrum expressed frustration that they weren’t hearing enough about how Harris and Trump plan to tackle housing costs and rising prices for groceries and other essentials.
Harris has pledged $25,000 for the first time homebuyers and tax breaks for new parents, while the Trump campaign says Mass deportations of migrants living in the US without permanent legal permission will free up housing and higher rates will create jobs.
But it is difficult for voters to shake off the pain caused by post-pandemic inflation. it has declined. Some say they hear too much from Trump on social issues, while Harris dwells too much on some of the former president’s provocative comments.
“When it comes to helping the citizen, helping a man who has to work every day to provide for his family, I don’t hear much about it,” said Abel Ramirez, 32, an Apache Junction resident who is struggling has to purchase a single-family home for his growing family.
Ramirez voted for Trump in 2020, but is considering opting out of this election.
Many Americans can look at their personal finances and see reasons for comfort, even if they mostly express despair when asked about the health of the country as a whole. Nearly 6 in 10 describe their own economic situation as good, while 7 in 10 say the nation is on the wrong track, according to a September poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs.
John Akers, 34, is among those who is lucky with the way the economy has treated him, but fears too many of his family and friends are being left behind.
He and his wife have seen their fortunes improve in recent years as their high-end audiovisual business flourished, and the fixer-upper they bought in Phoenix in 2015 proved to be a wise investment.
At the same time, some of their aging relatives have struggled with rising costs, and some of their close friends are considering leaving Arizona to find cheaper housing. He wonders whether Washington focuses too much on current cultural issues.
“No matter what happens, we’re going to have polarization at the end of this election,” said Akers, who plans to vote for Trump. “The political conversation too often pits the middle classes against each other, and there is too little attention to the issues that matter, such as inflation and housing costs.”
Maricopa County is an example of the boom that has driven American prosperity over the past two presidencies, weathering the housing crisis caused by the Great Recession and shutdowns during the pandemic. But that boom also destabilized people’s confidence in the real estate market, which helped fuel growth.
More people moved to the area than to the cities, at rates that exceeded housing supply, pushing prices up to the point where mortgage rates above 6% became worrying. Homeowners felt like they couldn’t afford to sell and buy a new property, while renters felt the promise of stability for the middle class was increasingly out of reach.
Take Trevor Cowling. He and his wife bought their 1,500-square-foot home for $225,000, locking in a 3.1% interest rate on a 30-year mortgage.
The Cowlings had one child when they moved here and added twins to the family earlier this year.
The Cowlings would love to move into a bigger home, but it’s unlikely that will happen in the near future with interest rates still hovering above 6%.
Cowling, 28, said if he tried to buy the monthly mortgage on his house today, it would cost “more than what I make.”
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Boek reported from Washington.