Even though the economy has generally been improving over the past year, most Americans are feeling negative about where things are heading, according to a new Gallup poll released this week.
The poll showed 46% of Americans describe current U.S. economic conditions as “poor.” But seven in 10 Americans believe the economy is “getting worse,” which is up slightly from 69% last month.
“Generally, people are negative about the economy,” said Jeff Jones, a senior editor at Gallup. “We did see some improvement earlier in the year, but all those gains have been lost.”
According to the poll, the economy and inflation are among the top issues Americans think of when asked to name the most important problems facing the country.
“The majority of people still say that inflation has caused hardship for their families, so I think that’s really kind of underlying a lot of what we see, even though a lot of the macroeconomic numbers are pretty strong at this point,” Jones told WTOP.
“Even though we have seen some improvement in a lot of aspects of the economy, people haven’t really thought that it’s getting better,” Jones added. “They’re still overwhelmingly likely to think it’s getting worse.”
Results of the Gallup poll were based on telephone interviews conducted this month with more than 1,000 adults nationwide. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth, despite the pressure of continually high interest rates.
The Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — picked up in the April-June quarter after growing at a 1.4% pace in the January-March period.
Economists had expected a weaker 1.9% annual pace of growth.
The GDP report also showed inflation continues to ease, while still remaining above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The central bank’s favored inflation gauge rose at a 2.6% annual rate last quarter, down from 3.4% in the first quarter of the year.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called “core PCE inflation” increased at a 2.9% pace. That was down from 3.7% from January through March.
The latest figures should reinforce confidence that the U.S. economy is on the verge of achieving a rare “soft landing,” whereby high interest rates, engineered by the Fed, tame inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.
Fed officials have made clear that with inflation edging toward their 2% target level, they’re prepared to start cutting interest rates soon — something they’re widely expected to do in September.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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