Over 70% of Americans Rate U.S. Economic Management Poor, Worst in 48 Years
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Oct 13
Over 70% of Americans Rate U.S. Economic Management Poor, Worst in 48 Years
2 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Oct 13
Summary
More than 70% of Americans now say the federal government is doing a poor job on economic policy, the bleakest reading in 48 years in University of Michigan sentiment data.
Kathryn Anne Edwards said economists behind the data tied that dissatisfaction to tariffs, the war on Iran and persistent price pressure that voters expect to hurt them for a long time.
Pocketbook strain remains visible in the data: the consumer price index was about 28% higher than in January 2021, annual inflation ran at 3.4% in August 2026, and gasoline cost 27.4% more than a year earlier.
The political risk is high because 84% of registered voters call the economy very important to their vote this year, including 82% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats.