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More Than Half of Voters Expect the Economy to Be Even Worse in a Year
By Sarah Hansen MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Inflation is high, and a recession is looming.
Rising grocery bills got you down? You’re not alone — a new poll shows Americans are getting increasingly pessimistic about the economy.
More than half of voters (specifically, 53%) are expecting the U.S. economy to get worse over the next year, according to the results of a new survey of roughly 2,000 people from decision intelligence firm Morning Consult and Politico.
That’s a six-percentage-point increase from 2021 — one largely fueled by the changing attitudes of Democratic and independent voters.
Over the last year, the portion of Republican voters who said they believe the economy will get worse in the next 12 months actually ticked down slightly, from 72% to 71%. The share of Democrats saying the same grew by 10 percentage points, on the other hand, from 23% to 33%, while the share of independent voters with that outlook rose from 49% to 56%.
Why more voters think the economy will get worse
It’s no wonder some people are feeling down about the country’s economic prospects. A recession is likely looming (or may have already started, depending on who you ask). A recent analysis by Bloomberg put the odds of the U.S. entering a recession within the next year at 100%.
Consumer prices are soaring — especially for essentials like groceries and gasoline — and the Federal Reserve has been rapidly raising interest rates to bring inflation back down.
Alas, prices were 8.2% higher in September than they were a year ago, even after multiple interest rate hikes, and gas prices have risen 20 cents per gallon in the last month alone. This week, President Joe Biden doubled down on his efforts to bring down prices at the pump ahead of the midterm elections, including the release of additional oil from the U.S.’ stockpile.
That’s not to mention the stock market, which is still struggling to find its footing after entering a bear market earlier this year. Right now, the S&P 500 index is down more than 20% since January.
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Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. She completed her master's degree in business and economic reporting at New York University. Before becoming a journalist, Sarah worked as a paralegal specializing in corporate compliance.