10 new charts that show how Americans feel about prices and health care
Plus: take the 2025 reader survey to steer coverage for the next year! Your weekly political data roundup for December 21, 2025.
Dear readers,
This is my weekly roundup of new political data published over the last week. In this edition, I have compiled 10 charts from new polling data that all have something to do with affordability or health care. That seemed topical, given Trump’s speech on the issues on Wednesday.
Plus: I’ve got even more data on special elections, House districts, and other topics — including a fun interactive article from my old colleagues at The Economist, who have published a list of simply deranged British slang about alcohol and hangovers.
But before that, three brief orders of business. First, Strength In Numbers will be off next week for Christmas, barring any news emergency that would warrant a post about relevant public opinion (ahem). I’ve been writing 3-4 articles a week since March and frankly just need some time to recharge. Also, my wife is a teacher and thus gets a long break for Christmas, and I like spending time with her. Regular programming will resume on Dec. 30!
Second, I have just put up a 2025 reader survey to gather information about how you all are reading/using/enjoying this website. The survey asks questions about what features in 2025 you valued most, what I could do more of or start in 2026, and what I could do better. The survey is short and most questions are multiple choice. Demographic questions are optional and will be used only in aggregate. All responses are anonymous.
To incentivize responding, I will be giving away free annual subscriptions to Strength In Numbers to 10 randomly chosen respondents. This applies to everyone who fills out the survey — so if you already pay for a subscription and my random number generator picks your email, I’ll comp you a year or refund you, whichever you prefer. (I hope you can tell that I’m really trying to incentivize you to take this survey. That’s because I care what readers think!)
And finally, I’ve also activated a special holiday coupon at the link below for anyone who wants to purchase a new annual subscription to SIN. This link also works for gift subscriptions for your friends! Click the button below and get 20% for a year. There’s no catch, and no questions asked. This deal expires Dec. 31, 2025, at 11:59 PM ET.
Thanks for being a loyal reader! And Merry Christmas!
Elliott
1. So many charts about how voters are feeling about prices
It really seemed like every poll released last week had something to do with the economy or health care. That’s no surprise — these are two of voters' top problems. And, given Trump’s presidential address on the subject on Wednesday, the fresh data is topical and welcome.
For this week’s lead slot, I have compiled most of the notable charts I saw on affordability and health care over the last week:
Gallup finds Americans are spending a lot less money this holiday season:
People are always worried about prices, but the Fox News Poll finds they are more worried than at any time in recent memory:
And: When people say health care is a top priority for them, they mostly mean the price of health care (and medicine). Health care is also an affordability issue:
Marist finds a supermajority of the public says the economy is “not working well” for them right now:
Navigator Research finds Trump’s approval on health care is sliding quick, while his numbers are flat (and very negative) on prices:
Also, Navigator finds 14% of Trump voters say they regret voting for him, and the economy is the biggest reason for disaffection:
Trump’s economic approval, per Ipsos/Reuters, is at a new low of 33% (-25):
And finally, a new NBC News Decision Desk poll finds 35% of Americans say their personal financial situation is worse today than it was a year ago — more than the 24% who say their personal financial situation has improved since Dec 2024:
The poll also has a helpful breakdown of what issue people mean when they say they are worried about “prices.” I hadn’t seen this breakdown before:
I’m expecting a drought of polling over the next two weeks as people are off for the holidays. If anything else on affordability comes across my desk, I’ll be sure to post a note about it!
2. What you missed at Strength In Numbers last week
In case you missed it: Subscribers to this newsletter received three original, data-driven articles over the last week:
First, here’s last Sunday’s data roundup, about how young people have turned hard against Trump after being Trump-curious in 2024.
Here’s my Tuesday Deep Dive for paying subscribers about how elites in the Democratic Party fumbled their response to Trump’s immigration agenda in 2025, and what they can learn from similarly disastrous policies by the UK’s Labour Party this year:
Here’s my Friday Chart of the Week covering Trump’s affordability problems, pegged to his televised address Wednesday night:
And here’s a short article soliciting suggestions for poll questions for 2026. Thanks to everyone who already put a question in the comments! We’re at 201 suggestions and counting!
If you’re a frequent reader of Strength In Numbers, I’m confident you will get a lot of value out of a paid subscription. You don’t just get a lot of extra, high-quality content, including premium data features and trackers, but also direct access to me and a private community of data nerds working in polling and U.S. politics. I know there are a lot of writers asking for your money these days, but think about this: Who else is offering you 4+ original, high-quality, data-driven analyses of U.S. politics and elections in a single week?
A yearly subscription really helps the business grow:
If a paid subscription isn’t right for you, the best thing you can do to help this business succeed is share this newsletter with a friend or on social media:
3. Even more numbers!
Here are some insightful and/or fun reads I came across this week:
I was interviewed for this NYT Magazine piece on affordability
Jamelle Bouie links to the SIN data portal in this article about Trump’s speech
Young Men Research Initiative: “Who Are the Young Men Who Regret Their Trump Vote?”
The political leanings of major podcasts (Joe Rogan is not as MAGA as you think)
A great piece by Philip Bump on Trump’s economic record
Also Philip Bump: The percent of Republicans saying they “strongly approve” of Trump’s job performance fell below 50% for the first time this week:
Daniel Donner, contributor to friend of the blog The Downballot, shares this chart of 2025 special election results:
The November jobs report showed the labor market is weakening
The November inflation report came in rosier than expected, but that’s likely due to issues with data gathered during the shutdown
Ronald Brownstein and Carolyn Silverman for Bloomberg on “A New Way to Understand America’s Congressional Doom Loop”
Quinnipiac Poll: 50% of independents say the economy or democracy — two issues that currently lean toward Democrats — is the top issue facing the country:
And The Economist data team on what slang (much of it about alcohol) reveals about history
Got any political data stories of your own to share? Drop them in the comments below!
4. Polling update
The Strength In Numbers polling averages have moved to a new webpage at fiftyplusone.news, a website purely for poll-tracking that I’ve set up with my friends. Some averages, like my average of Trump’s approval rating on individual issues, remain on the data portal but will be moved to the new site soon.
Trump’s net job approval is -15.4, practically unchanged since last Sunday.
The generic ballot is D+3.3, reflecting further tightening in the race for the House.
That’s it for your major political data stories this week.
Got more for next week? Email your links or add to the comments below!
10 new charts?!?! Now you’re just spoiling us!
Thank you so much for this invaluable work!
Heads up that the question “Where do you usually read Strength In Numbers?” Is worded like you intended it be a multi-select, but it’s single choice currently.
Thanks for your work and writing this year!