GrayHouse Poll Cited by Competitive Enterprise Institute on Affordability

Read the full CEI piece →

The Competitive Enterprise Institute cited GrayHouse polling in a March 9th analysis arguing that government price controls on groceries would fail to deliver relief for American consumers. The piece, authored by CEI's Steve Swedberg, opens by referencing our national survey conducted for Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, which found that 27 percent of Americans identify groceries as their single largest affordability concern — above housing, energy, and healthcare.

CEI used the GrayHouse/CASE finding to establish the political stakes before walking through the economic case against price controls. The analysis draws on historical examples ranging from Nixon-era food price freezes to recent experiments in Hungary and Argentina, arguing that government-imposed price caps consistently produce unintended consequences: supply shortages, quality degradation, and market distortions that ultimately hurt the consumers they were designed to protect.

The grocery affordability issue is a defining economic concern heading into the next election cycle, and our data captures exactly why policymakers are feeling pressure to act. As the CEI piece makes clear, the policy record suggests controls are the wrong answer — and polling data like ours is central to understanding both the political urgency and the risk of getting the response wrong.