Clip: With economy back at forefront, do Democrats have any hope of holding onto Congress?

Yamiche Alcindor : Midterm Election Day is just 18 days away and early voting is already underway in some states. Republicans are feeling confident about their chances of winning control of the House and the Senate while Democrats have been holding out hope, they can hold on to power.

But gas prices and inflation are on the rise again putting the economy back at the top of voter concerns. And according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, the share of likely voters who said economic concerns were the most important issues facing America has increased from 36 percent in July to 44 percent, far higher than any other issue. The poll also showed that 49 percent of likely voters say they plan to vote for a Republican for Congress. That's 4 percent more than the 45 percent who say they plan to vote Democrat.

And Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp is running for reelection against Democrat Stacey Abrams. He was quick to pounce in the shift in voter sentiment.

Gov . Brian Kemp (R-GA) : Georgians should know that my desire is to continue to fight through 40-year inflation and high gas price and other things that our Georgia families are facing right now, quite honestly, because of bad policies in Washington, D.C., from President Biden and the Democrats that have complete control.

Yamiche Alcindor : Now, this week, President Biden announced he will release 15 million barrels of oil from the country's strategic reserve as a way to deal with rising gas prices. But Biden also said he will prioritize passing abortion rights legislation if his party can hold on to power.

Joe Biden : If you care about the right to choose, then you've got to vote. That's why these midterm elections are so critical to elect more Democratic senators to the United States Senate and more Democrats to keep control of the House of Representatives.

Folks, if we do that, the first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade.

Yamiche Alcindor : Joining me now to discuss this and more, Rick Klein, Political, Director for ABC News, he can also be seen in the Hulu series, Power Trip. It offers a behind-the-scenes look of the network's team on the campaign trail covering the midterms. And joining me here in studio, Laura Barron-Lopez, White House Correspondent for PBS Newshour, Abha Bhattarai, She's economics correspondent for The Washington Post, and Nikole Killion, Congressional Correspondent at CBS News. So, thank you all for being here.

Abha, we've got to start with you because you're covering the economy. What's your reporting say about whether or not there could be a recession, how bad the state of the economy is or maybe this is being overblown?

Abha Bhattarai, Economics Correspondent, The Washington Post : That's a great question. And by many measures, the economy is in great shape right now. The job market is still very strong, unemployment is at historic lows, people are getting raises, people are continuing to spend, businesses are continuing to hire.

But the dark cloud over all of this is inflation. And that's really weighing on consumer sentiment. It's weighing on businesses and that's sort of what's driving all of this doom and gloom that we're seeing here in Washington and around the country.

People now for over a year have been seeing higher prices at the grocery store at the gas pump. They're depleting their savings that they piled up during the pandemic. They're racking up more credit card debt. And they're feeling the sort of sense that the bottom is slip out. They're not sure when things are going to get better.

Yamiche Alcindor : And you're an economics reporter using words like dark cloud and doom and gloom. So now I have to ask you -- President Biden, he's taking all of these steps. How much of an impact can it really have? How much of an impact can the White House really have on all of this?

Abha Bhattarai : That's a great point. The White House can do bits and pieces here and there but this is really in the hands of the Federal Reserve, which is charged with raising interest rates enough to slow the economy and bring down inflation. And the hope is that it can do that without tipping the country into a recession. It's unclear whether that can happen and more and more economists are predicting a recession in the next year.

Yamiche Alcindor : And, Laura, you're, of course, at the White House. Politico, our friends at Playbook, they wrote this headline. It's the gas prices, stupid. It's also been widely reported that White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, every morning, he checks the gas prices before he goes to work. Tell me a little bit about what you're hearing about how concerned the White House is about these inflation concerns, especially as they try to walk and chew gum, as President Biden said, as they're talking about abortion while also trying to deal with inflation.

Laura Barron-Lopez, White House Correspondent, PBS Newshour : Well, it's something that the White House has long been concerned about. They have long thought that the economy was always going to be the ultimate top concern for voters heaving into the midterms even after the Dobbs decision was handed down.

And so that's why a lot of people were asking why isn't the president out there more talking about abortion rights across the country. And part of that was because the White House and all the people in the White House that I've spoken to said that, ultimately, he wants to try to sell his economic vision even though a lot of the things that Democrats have passed to date, well, it's stuff that they have tried to achieve for a very long time, like prescription drug reform and that ultimately can help people's pocketbooks, it's not going to take effect for probably another year or. And so it's really difficult for the White House to sell that right now when people aren't necessarily feeling it right away. And right now, they're looking at gas prices.

Now, to your point about White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, he is constantly tweeting when he can say that gas prices are still low. And that was the argument from the White House this week, which was that, look, the president is taking this action on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve because we're trying to have this bridge carried over the winter to make sure that gas prices stay low as long as possible.

Yamiche Alcindor : And, Nikole, Laura is talking about people might not feel some of these things for a year out. And we're 18 days out from when the Democrats really want them to feel something. What are you hearing out on the campaign trail? I know you've been in Georgia and other places. Tell us a little bit about what you're hearing from voters?

Nikole Killion, Congressional Correspondent, CBS News : Yes. Well, I mean, I've been in Georgia, I've been in Wisconsin. And I think the sentiment is true that many people are extremely concerned about the economy. When you ask them what's most important to them, that's the first thing they mention, are the high gas prices, high grocery prices, high energy prices, that it's difficult at times to make ends meet.

Abortion rights still rises to the top for a lot of female voters that I have talked to over the last couple of weeks on the trail, but, by and large, the economy still kind of rises to the top. And just to talk about the point with respect to the White House, you know, I had a chance to speak with DNC Senior Adviser Cedric Richmond this week. And he said what the president is doing is kind of intentional in terms of stirring away from these campaign rallies and really talking more about the policy and trying to sell what he has done. In fact, we heard the president even referenced that in his remarks earlier today.

So, it is something where I think the administration feels proud of what they've accomplished and is trying to sell that messaging to people even in spite of that potential disconnect. But I was told that we will see the president on the trail a little bit more in these final weeks.

Yamiche Alcindor : Well, that will be interesting and we'll definitely cover it.