More than 350 Virginia Mercury readers responded to the news organization’s first online survey ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and many said they are distressed about their wallets and “our democracy.”
The Mercury described the survey as unscientific. It ran from Sept. 22 to Oct. 17.
Participants could choose one of seven options as their biggest concern or write in their own. The choices were shrinking healthcare access, government waste and fraud, higher food prices, rising energy costs, lack of affordable housing, data centers and climate change.
The Mercury reported that the cost of groceries, healthcare, gasoline and diesel fuel have forced Virginians to make tough choices. It also said the war in Iran has contributed to voter angst.
Many respondents said they fear President Donald Trump and his administration will try to overturn accurate election results, including in the U.S. Senate race in Alaska. The Mercury noted the administration has also questioned the legitimacy of 20,000 ballots in California.
Turnout is running high. As of Thursday, 1.41 million Virginians had cast early ballots, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. That already surpasses the 976,558 cast during the entire early voting period in 2022.
Virginia had nearly 6.5 million registered voters on Oct. 1, according to the state Department of Elections.
One respondent said universal healthcare coverage was their main issue and that neither candidate in the 1st District race, Republican incumbent Rob Wittman or Democrat Shannon Taylor, speaks to it.
The Mercury commentary also cited a local restaurant owner, co-owner and chief operations officer of three restaurants in South Hampton Roads, who told Time.com that about 35% of her eligible employees now buy employer-sponsored health insurance, down from 50% before the COVID outbreak.
Eric Claville, a political and legal analyst at Norfolk State University, told the Mercury by email that Virginians are concerned about affordability, the war in Iran and “democracy under the president.”
On Virginia Insider, Uriah Kiser reacted to the commentary. He took issue with the repeated “hands off our democracy” framing, noting the United States is a constitutional republic, and questioned how representative the 350 self-selected respondents are.
Kiser also credited the Mercury for its statewide reporting and urged viewers to support local news outlets they trust.
He asked whether Gov. Abigail Spanberger has delivered on the affordability message she campaigned on. Kiser said lawmakers in Richmond have raised their own salaries, pushed gun restrictions, raised taxes and kept tax breaks for data centers through 2035.
Kiser said Virginians’ electricity bills keep rising in part because ratepayers fund the infrastructure that connects data centers owned by companies such as Microsoft and Amazon to the grid. He noted that state Sen. Louise Lucas had pushed for data centers to pay more.
Kiser also argued that expanding government control of healthcare would reduce options and lengthen wait times for patients.
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SOURCES:
Virginia Insider on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PViJzlFsEf8
Virginia Insider on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v7hsat4-virginia-mercury-survey-fear-reset-in-washington-and-the-affordability-ques.html
Virginia Insider podcast on RSS.com: https://rss.com/podcasts/virginia-insider/3289554/
Virginia Mercury: Survey finds fear, desire for reset in Washington: https://virginiamercury.com/2026/11/02/survey-finds-fear-desire-for-reset-in-washington-will-trump-accept-the-results/
Virginia Mercury: Readers head toward midterms with rising bills and doubts about Washington: https://virginiamercury.com/2026/10/26/virginia-mercury-readers-head-toward-midterms-with-rising-bills-and-doubts-about-washington/
