Americans are Pessimistic about the Economy
With news focused on the debt ceiling and financial turmoil – it’s no surprise that the economy is a top concern. When asked about the status of the economy in six months, pluralities of voters say the economy will be worse. A majority of GOP voters believe the economy will be worse in six months, as do a plurality of Independents. Democrats are more split on the issue, with a plurality saying the economy will be about the same.
Men tend to be slightly more optimistic about the future state of the economy than the women in their party. Republican women are the least likely to say the economy will be better in six months. A plurality of Democrats think things will stay the same, but 30% of Democratic women and 20% of Democratic men say things will get worse.
Rising Costs Driving Economic Concerns
Cost of Living is a top issue looking towards 2024, and is a “dealbreaker” issue for 50% of all voters. It is also in the top three issues for women. Cost of living is an especially important issue among GOP voters. 59% of Republicans say a candidate must share their views on the issue (62% among men and 56% among women). Concerns about rising costs continue a trend from our 2022 polls, where rising prices were a top concern for voters.
Housing costs are the number one economic concern among voters, followed closely by fears of a recession. Accordingly, a recent Gallup poll found voters were concerned about the housing market, with Americans rating the current housing market as the worst it has ever been since Gallup first began asking the question in 1978. GOP voters worry about housing affordability more than Democratic voters (64% say it is very likely affording a home will be harder compared to 47% among Dems). The partisan differences on housing are driven by Republican women, 71% of GOP women think it is very likely that it will become harder to afford a home in their area compared to 49% of Democratic women. There is a major gender gap among Republicans, with only 56% of Republican men saying it is very likely that housing will become less affordable.
Getting a good job is a top concern among younger voters. 41% of 18-29 year olds say it is very likely that it will be harder to find a good job.
Childcare is also a big concern – however, more of our findings on childcare and other policies will be featured in a future release.
Poll Methodology
Echelon Insights conducted this survey on behalf of All In Together to examine voters’ attitudes toward current issues and politics. The survey was fielded online from May 8-10, 2023 in English among a sample of 1,277 voters in the Likely Electorate (LV) nationwide. The base sample was 856 voters in the Likely Electorate and an additional oversample of 421 women to achieve a total of 836 women respondents in the sample, using non-probability sampling.
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All In Together is one of the leading resources of comprehensive polling and research on women voters and policy. View more of our past polling, and learn more about our other research and resources.
For questions or information about the data, please contact All In Together’s Director of Research Priya at pelangovan@aitogether.org. For all media inquiries about the data, please contact Kate at DKC news at allintogether@dkcnews.com.
