According to Politico, inflation issues in the United States are complicating the Republican Party's messaging on housing affordability. In June of this year, Republicans pushed through the "21st Century Housing Act," which focuses on increasing housing construction and improving affordability in the long term. The Republican campaign team has been touting this legislation, but Trump's war with Iran has caused energy prices to soar, driving up inflation and subsequently increasing the cost of home loans. Housing happens to be one of the issues voters care about most. A poll released by the Bipartisan Policy Center in May found that 79% of registered voters consider housing costs to be an "extremely or very important issue." However, the impact of this new congressional law is likely to take months or even years to materialize in the current tight housing market. With only a few weeks left until the midterm elections, U.S. mortgage rates last week reached nearly 7%, but Trump had promised during his campaign that mortgage rates would drop to 2%. Now, halfway through his second term, that seems more unlikely than ever. Additionally, Trump once refused to sign the aforementioned housing bill, calling it "incredibly boring," which has also weakened the Republican Party's messaging. Financial industry experts predict that mortgage rates are unlikely to drop significantly before November unless Trump quickly resolves the Middle East conflict or makes progress in international trade negotiations. Christian DeRitis, Managing Director of Moody's Analytics, stated that the most effective solution would be resolving the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz in some form, which would certainly lower inflation fairly quickly.