Cost of living tops Indiana voters’ minds as primary nears

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A working mother told News 8 she’s not sure if any candidates have the answers to cost-of-living problems.

Lamia Nelson works as a nurse assistant and has her own home health care business. She also works multiple side gigs. Even with all that, she said she struggles to make ends meet for herself and her three children. Nelson pulled her two younger children out of their charter school and is having them take classes at home so that she can reduce transportation costs and avoid scheduling conflicts with her work.

Nelson said the rent for the home she and her children share has risen from about $900 a month eight years ago to $1,850 per month. She says it’s extremely difficult for working parents like her to properly invest time in their children while at the same time keeping the bills paid.

“Where’s the help here? If parents have to work all day because they need to be able to afford to keep a roof over their head, where are the programs at? Where is the assistance? Where’s the helping hand for single-parent families?” she said. “My kid needs help tutoring in school. I’m at work, I have to pull a double, who’s going to help with that? They’re putting so much money into the highways and streets, why don’t you do some programs for our children?”

Polling data shows she’s not alone. In a survey of about 1,500 voters conducted in February of this year for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, 37% of respondents said cost of living and affordability issues were the top issue they wanted Congress to address.

The second-highest category, protecting democracy, got top marks from 21%. An Ipsos poll conducted in October logged similar numbers, with 40% of respondents saying cost-of-living issues were their top concern.

According to Ball State University political science Prof. Chad Kinsella, cost-of-living issues dominate every election cycle because they affect every voter every day. Kinsella says voters tend to punish the party in power whenever their costs of living become too great.

President Donald Trump ran on affordability issues in 2024, and Democrats are doing the same thing in 2026. The Consumer Price Index, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ measure of inflation, showed a 3.3% rise in costs for all items in March. Much of that was driven by a 12.5% increase in energy costs driven by oil prices. Those prices spiked as a result of the war with Iran and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil flows.

“Inflation and, you know, utility, gas prices, grocery prices, and everything, it affects people no matter where they are on the political spectrum,” Kinsella said. “And they’re aware of that. And people care. And so, I think talking about those matters, even if you’re in a primary election, it’s gonna matter.”

Lamia Nelson says gas prices are a problem for her, but rent and utilities are her biggest concerns. Moreover, she says whoever is running for office needs to come up with a plan to bring up worker pay.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average weekly wage in Indiana during the fall of 2025, the most recent quarter for which data is available, was $1,214, compared to $1,459 for the country as a whole.

That works out to about $63,000 per year in Indiana. Indiana’s minimum wage is tied to the federal minimum wage, which has been set at $7.25 per hour since 2009. The minimum wage would have to rise to $11.10 per hour to offset inflation since then.

“They need to focus on the rent prices, and I feel like the rent and utilities go hand in hand, and they need to focus on the pay. People cannot survive with these types of pay rates employers are giving. It’s ridiculous,” Nelson.

Nelson says cost-of-living issues are far and away her top issue when she goes into the voting booth, but says she doesn’t have high hopes about the candidates currently on the ballot.

“Of course, you’re going to want to go with who’s going to help us, but who is going to help us, in reality?” she said.

Early voting runs through May 4. Primary Day itself is on May 5. Click here to find out how to vote and check your voter registration.