Gallup Poll: 63% of Americans Say Economy Getting Worse

According to a Gallup survey, 63% of Americans say the economy is getting worse, 30% say it is improving, and 4% say it is staying the same. Last month, 68% of Americans thought the economy was worsening.

Data from a nationally representative Jan. 2-16 web survey using Gallup's probability-based panel show 63% of U.S. adults say recent price increases have caused financial hardship for their family. This includes 17% who say it is a severe hardship, affecting their ability to maintain their standard of living, and 46% who report it is a moderate hardship, but does not jeopardize their standard of living. Another 37% of Americans say inflation is not a hardship at all.

Those in lower-income households (76%) are more likely than those in middle-income households (64%) and higher-income households (54%) to say price increases are causing them hardship.

There are some interesting partisan distinctions in Gallup's survey, with Republicans and independents describing the situation more negatively than Democrats. In all, 72% of Republicans and 64% of independents say inflation has been a hardship for them, compared with 51% of Democrats who say it has been a hardship.

In the Gallup survey, Democrats' rating of the economy as excellent or good rose from 38% in December to 54% this month. The percentage of Democrats saying the economy is getting better increased from 54% to 64% over the same period. At the same time, neither Republicans' nor independents' views changed significantly. Few Republicans, 8%, currently rate the economy as excellent or good, while the 21% of independents who offer the same rating is closer to the national average.

Statistically, the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter of 2023 amid strong consumer spending, with growth for the full year coming in at 2.5%, Reuters reported.

The latest annual inflation rate was 3.4%, and the unemployment rate in America is a low 3.7%.

However, high interest rates in the United States have made borrowing more costly for people, affecting things like credit cards repayments, school loans, and mortgage payments. Americans are also adversely affected by rising taxes, and rising homeowners' and car insurance rates.

According to Yahoo Finance, "As inflation continues to pervade nearly every part of everyday life, the average American worker is being squeezed by rising costs, and elevated grocery prices are largely to blame. The cost of purchasing household groceries still remains stubbornly high across the U.S. and weekly grocery shopping is far more expensive than just a few years ago."

Gallup tracks Americans' monthly ratings of national economic conditions and their views on whether the economy is getting better or worse. The combined responses are used to create the Gallup Economic Confidence Index (ECI), which has a theoretical range of +100 (if all respondents say the economy is excellent or good and that it is getting better) to -100 (if all say it is poor and getting worse).

The latest index score, from a Jan. 2-22 poll, is up by six points from last month and 14 points since November to -26, the highest since January 2022.

The Gallup Panel is a multimode panel with approximately 100,000 members, all of whom can be reached via phone. About 80,000 members can be reached by email to complete a Web survey.

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