By Ramsey Touchberry

Full story in the Washington Examiner

Competitive Senate contests could present new political lanes for so-called tort reform advocates to limit civil lawsuits as voters look to politicians to lower inflation.

A majority of voters polled across five states with battleground Senate races — North Carolina, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, and New Hampshire — indicated that abusing the use of civil lawsuits has contributed to higher goods and services, and that their senators should address the issue.

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Presented with those figures in the survey, roughly two-thirds of respondents supported tort reform, including 93% who want increased transparency for attorney fees, 83% who support capping personal injury lawyer fees at 20%, and 68% who back “loser pays” stipulations to slap the party that loses with the winning party’s legal fees.

Nearly 8-in-10, or 79%, say it’s important for senators to help prevent tort law abuse, according to the survey.

With persistent inflation and President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs that could further hike prices, pocketbook issues are likely to remain a central campaign theme for the 2026 midterm elections.

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The survey found that 92% would prefer their senators take votes that would weaken so-called billboard attorneys, those often most associated with abusing the system through personal injury lawsuits.

The poll commissioned by PACT was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies from March 13-18 among 1,500 registered voters split evenly between each of the five battleground states. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.53 percentage points.

Among all respondents, 46% voted for Trump and 47% voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris. The ideological split was 31% Republican, 30% Democrat, and 38% independent.