Inflation or abortion?

That is the question facing Hudson Valley voters Tuesday.

Or, at least, those are the respective topics that Republican Marc Molinaro and Democrat Pat Ryan have emphasized ahead of a special House election that could give a clue to the national political mood with control of Congress on the ballot this fall.

“It is getting a lot of attention because it is a competitive race,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Poll, explained to The Post Monday “It is a bellwether.”

Polling suggests a tight race between Molinaro and Ryan to fill the seat vacated by now-Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado through the end of the year.

“Three years before Roe v. Wade, women in the state of New York – under a Republican administration had the right to an abortion and the right to make decisions about their own bodies that happened here first. So that’s what we’re fighting for,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday while campaigning alongside Ryan.

“Pat knows this,” Hochul added.

Molinaro has blamed Democratic policies for historically high inflation and rising crime, while recent Supreme Court rulings striking down Roe v. Wade and state restrictions on carrying concealed weapons have offered Ryan a path to connect his campaign to national controversies.

“The backdrop to our race is a full-scale national attack on reproductive rights, public safety and the environment,” Ryan said in a statement Monday.

“It is resonating with voters across the district, and, on Tuesday, they will send a message about the direction our country is headed in — in November and beyond,” he added.

Republicans are hoping to win back the district for the first time since 2018, when Delgado flipped the seat as part of a nationwide blue wave that gave them control of the House for the first time in eight years.

“I let other people pontificate. This election is about one thing: the people and families of this district,” Molinaro told The Post in a text Monday. “Their hope for relief from skyrocketing prices and rising crime – and that their kids will have a quality education and job opportunities.”

President Joe Biden won the district, which sprawls across the Catskills, with 54.2% of the vote in 2020, compared to 45.8% for former President Donald Trump, according to an analysis by the CUNY Mapping Service.

While they are running against each other in the special election, Molinaro and Ryan will not face each other this fall.

Molinaro is running this November to represent the newly-drawn Congressional District 19, which overlaps with some of the current district, while Ryan is running in neighboring Congressional District 18.

Political experts say the August date for a special election means it is especially important for candidates to get their party bases to the polls in what will likely be a low-turnout affair.

“It’s anyone’s guess,” former Rep. John Faso, a Republican who represented the district before Delgado, told The Post Monday when asked for a prediction. “August 23rd is a tough day to get people to think about anything other than school starting.”