Six in Ten Americans Believe the Economy is Getting Worse

Results from the most recent weekly Economist/YouGov poll show that over six in ten American adults (61 percent) believe the country's economy is getting worse. This is the highest share of Americans to say so since July 2022, and the most ever under a Donald Trump presidency. These results show a clear deterioration in Americans’ perceptions of the economy since last year. At the beginning of 2025, sentiment was relatively mixed, with around one in five respondents saying the economy was improving and just over a third believing it was getting worse. However, the share of pessimistic respondents steadily increased as the year progressed, surpassing 50 percent by spring.

This shift in perception comes amid a complex macroeconomic environment in the United States. While key indicators such as employment have surpassed expectations in recent months, American households continue to feel pressure from elevated prices and economic uncertainty. At the same time, public debt has reached historically high levels and is continuing to rise.

Additional pressure on public finances has also come from increased military expenditures related to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. On Tuesday, a senior Pentagon official said the war had so far cost the country $29 billion, an increase of $4 billion from an estimate provided ​late last month, with broader conflict scenarios projected to push total expenditures well above $100 billion. The escalation of the war also caused a sharp rise in fuel prices. Brent crude prices surged to multi-year highs in April and May, reflecting fears of prolonged disruptions to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to gasoline prices rising by around 45 percent and diesel by over 48 percent in the U.S.