As Democrats debate economic messaging ahead of the midterms, Inclusive Abundance Action today released the findings from surveys by Blue Rose Research showing that abundance messaging is effective at persuading the voters in the House districts needed to win the majority this year.
Top findings include:
- Abundance messages that emphasize cost-of-living solutions are very effective at persuading the voters Democrats need to win back. Seven out of 10 of the abundance messages that emphasized different solutions to rising costs scored in the 90th percentile or higher of all messages Blue Rose has ever tested.
- When the higher-level, vision-setting messages political parties and campaigns run on were tested, a populist/abundance synthesis was more effective than either abundance messaging or populist messaging on their own.
- Voters blame politicians “who’d rather fight than fix problems” even more than corporations and billionaires for rising costs. When asked who’s most responsible for rising costs, respondents selected “politicians who’d rather fight than fix problems” 69% of the time – 10 points more than “wealthy elites and billionaires” or “big corporations.”
Read the full memo from Inclusive Abundance Action below:
To: Interested Parties
From: Brianna Johnson, Inclusive Abundance Action
Date: April 21, 2026
Re: Democratic Messaging to Win the Midterms on Affordability
Overview: Democrats want to win back the House of Representatives this November, and as we’ve seen over and over in recent polling, affordability is clearly the key issue driving voters. But there’s an ongoing debate about how to talk about the economy: Should Democrats lean into abundance – building more, cutting red tape, and lowering costs through supply – or into a more populist message about corporate power and billionaire greed? Inclusive Abundance does not see this as an either/or choice. We see abundance as an approach to getting things done, something Democrats across the ideological spectrum can use to further their agendas.
To find out what actually works with the voters Democrats need to persuade, Blue Rose Research conducted a series of research experiments for Inclusive Abundance Action from March 11-17, 2026. 3,007 respondents were interviewed across 50 highly competitive congressional districts, and the results were weighted to likely 2026 voters. Our goal was not to poll the Democratic base; rather, this is a test of what moves voters in the exact districts that will determine the majority in Congress – and is indicative of what will drive victories nationally. We tested a range of abundance messages to develop an evidence-backed menu of messaging options for candidates and elected officials across the left-of-center spectrum.
Notably, the abundance messages we developed are in de-jargoned, plain language, mostly avoiding using the word “abundance” itself. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about what abundance stands for; to us, at the highest level, it’s about fixing and strengthening the government’s ability to do what needs to be done for Americans to experience greater security and freedom. That means abandoning the scarcity mindset that for decades pushed the housing, health care, energy, and innovation Americans need further and further out of reach. Policy debates can get into the details of how that would happen, but more important for voters is to understand how that new thinking could improve their lives. And what we found, by and large, is that voters want the results that the abundance movement is laser-focused on delivering.
Below we outline key findings from the research. You can view the full results, including crosstabs, HERE.
1. Affordability continues to be top of mind for voters – and abundance messages that emphasize cost-of-living solutions are very effective at persuading the voters Democrats need to win back.
In line with other recent polling, affordability dominates voter concerns heading into the midterms. When given a list of 10 problems facing America today, “the cost of housing, groceries, electricity, and everyday expenses” was selected 79% of the time.
We tested 10 abundance messages that emphasized different solutions to rising costs. Seven out of 10 scored in the 90th percentile or higher of all messages Blue Rose has ever tested – showing the underlying framework resonates across multiple framings.
2. The most effective messaging combines aspects of populism and concrete abundance messages.
The messages above work at the issue level, giving candidates language for talking about specific affordability solutions. We also tested the higher-level, vision-setting message a political party or campaign runs on.
The results indicate that abundance-oriented messages can be as successful as populist or standard Democratic messages, and that elements of populism can be additive when woven into a building-focused frame.
3. Voters blame politicians “who’d rather fight than fix problems” more than corporations and billionaires for rising costs.
Blue Rose has found across its work that the most effective messages name a “villain,” from corporations, to specific industries, to President Trump and other Republicans. In our testing on potential “villains” for abundance messaging with respect to rising costs, we found that while there are a number of effective options, voters blame “politicians who’d rather fight than fix problems” more than any other villain, by a relatively wide margin – and that grows among the exact swing voters Democrats need to win back. The populist standbys of “wealthy elites and billionaires” (selected 59% of the time) and “big corporations” (selected 58% of the time) do land, but they trail inaction by ten points.
This matters for how abundance-aligned candidates should talk about the economy. The data is clear that pointing fingers at the right and at the powerful can be effective. But voters’ higher-order concern is results. Voters are less angry at who’s profiting from the problem than at the fact that no one is fixing the problem. That’s an opening abundance is uniquely suited to fill.
Abundance advocates should also note that the NIMBY-adjacent villain – “people and groups who block new housing, energy, and infrastructure from being built” – doesn’t resonate with everyday voters (selected 47% of the time). Effective messaging needs to stay focused on outcomes, not process.
4. Voters still want elected officials to work together, including across party lines, to fix problems. Abundance offers a way to do that.
After finding that political division and dysfunction ranks as the #2 problem facing America, and inaction as the #1 villain for rising costs, our research around what voters want in their Congressional candidates reinforces that voters are not looking for ideological warriors – they’re looking for someone who will actually solve problems. Respondents said a congressional candidate having “honesty and integrity” (76%) and “a determination to get things done – even when that means working with the other party (72%) would make them more appealing. Of course, those qualities aren’t in tension – voters want leaders they can trust and who will deliver. “A refusal to compromise on their values, even if it means nothing gets passed” came in at just 30%.
5. Scarcity-related messaging can resonate with voters.
Voters don’t just think essential goods are too expensive – they recognize there aren’t enough of them. “The things we need – housing, health care, child care – are too hard to find and access” ranked as the third biggest problem out of 10 facing the country, behind only affordability and political dysfunction.
This is reflected in the messaging results: The top-performing message (96th percentile) heavily emphasized scarcity – “working Americans can’t afford the basics – and it’s because we’ve stopped building them. Not enough housing, not enough energy, not enough child care, and what little gets built goes to the wealthy first.”