Focus groups: Deep anxiety about the economy drives undecided voters in two key Senate races

Concerns about the economy and high costs are driving the thinking of undecided voters in Iowa and Georgia, according to new focus group conversations, as two states that will be central to the fight for the Senate barrel toward Election Day.

“Nothing has gotten better as far as the cost of living, inflation — food is astronomical, gas,” said Patty O., a 59-year-old Georgia Republican who voted for Donald Trump in 2024. “The cost of living is so high right now.”

Patty was among a dozen voters up for grabs in two Senate races who participated this week in focus groups produced by Syracuse University and the research firms Engagious and Sago and observed by NBC News. The group comprised six independents, five Republicans and one Democrat. Nine voted for Trump for president two years ago, when he won both states, while three supported then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

All but three of the voters said they feel more anxious about the economy today than when Trump returned to office. Eight said Trump is not focused enough on the issue.

These voters’ anxieties reflect recent polling detailing broad concerns about the state of the economy — and Trump’s handling of it. Unlike a poll, which uses statistical methods to demonstrate how a larger population feels, focus groups dig deeper into how a handful of people feel about key questions facing the country.

With less than three months until the midterm elections, these voters were still weighing whom to support in the Senate races, though some have picked favorites for governor. But the economy will loom large in their decisions.

Asked whether the economy will be a major consideration in their votes in November, all but one said yes.

“Among these undecided voters, pervasive economic anxiety is the animating issue in the midterms — not Iran, not immigration, not Israel/Gaza,” said Rich Thau of Engagious, who moderated the sessions.