Most Americans continue to hold negative views of the U.S. economy, as has been the case for the last six years.

About three-in-ten U.S. adults (28%) rate economic conditions in the country as excellent or good, while roughly seven-in-ten (72%) rate them as only fair or poor.

Views of the economy are largely unchanged from last September (26% rated the economy positively) but are up somewhat from last April, when 23% rated the economy positively. They remain significantly lower than prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new Pew Research Center survey of 8,512 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 20-26 finds that nearly all of the change in views of the economy since last spring has come among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents:

• 49% of Republicans rate the economy positively today, the highest mark of President Donald Trump’s second term. 
• Views among Republicans are up 5 percentage points since September and 13 points since April.
• Just 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners rate the economy positively, virtually unchanged since April. 

Costs, consumer prices top economic concerns for Americans

The costs of health care and housing, as well as the price of food and consumer goods, are at the top of Americans’ economic concerns.

About seven-in-ten adults (71%) say they are very concerned about the cost of health care, while 66% say the same about the price of food and consumer goods. Nearly as many (62%) say they are very concerned about the cost of housing.

About half of all adults (51%) say they are very concerned about the price of electricity, while roughly a third (34%) say this about the price of gasoline.

Fewer than half of adults are very concerned about the availability of jobs (45%), and only 20% express concern about the state of the stock market.

How do Americans view the future of the economy?

About four-in-ten Americans (38%) say they expect the economic conditions to be worse a year from now. Fewer (31%) say they expect the economy will be better in a year, while 30% say it will be about the same as today.

The share expecting economic conditions to be worse in a year has decreased since September, when 46% said this.

Republicans continue to be more optimistic than Democrats about the future of the economy.

Among Republicans

A majority of Republicans (57%) expect the economy will be better a year from now. Only 14% expect it will be worse.

Among Democrats

Just 8% of Democrats now say they expect the economy will be better a year from now, while 62% expect it will be worse. The share of Democrats who expect the economy to worsen is down 11 points since September.

Americans’ views of Trump’s economic policies

About half of Americans (52%) say that since taking office, Trump’s economic policies have made economic conditions in the country worse. Another 28% say his policies have made the economy better, while 19% say they have not had much of an effect.

Today, a 57% majority of Republicans say Trump’s policies have made economic conditions better. This is up 10 percentage points since September.

Democrats overwhelmingly (85%) say that Trump’s policies have made economic conditions worse. These views are virtually unchanged since September.

Related: Read findings on Americans’ views of the Trump administration’s tariff policies.

Partisans’ economic concerns

On almost every economic issue asked about in the survey, Democrats express more concern than Republicans.

For example, more than eight-in-ten Democrats (82%) say they are very concerned about the cost of health care, compared with 61% of Republicans.

Similarly, 75% of Democrats say this about the price of food and consumer goods, while 55% of Republicans do.

Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to express concern about the cost of housing (71% vs. 54%), the price of electricity (56% vs. 45%), or people who want to work being unable to find jobs (59% vs. 32%).

Relatively few in either party express concern about the price of gasoline or the state of the stock market:

• 36% of Democrats say they are very concerned about the price of gasoline, as do 30% of Republicans.
• About two-in ten in both parties express concern about the stock market (22% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans).

By a wide margin, Americans continue to say they disapprove of the Trump administration substantially increasing tariffs: 60% say this, including 39% who say they strongly disapprove. By contrast, 37% say they approve of the increased tariffs, and just 13% strongly approve.

Views of the administration’s tariff increases have been relatively stable since last April, when President Donald Trump unveiled his far-reaching tariffs policy.

There continues to be a wide partisan divide on the increased tariffs.

About seven-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (71%) approve of the increased tariffs, while 28% say they disapprove.

About nine-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (93%) disapprove of the tariffs, including 70% who say they strongly disapprove. Only 7% say they approve.

These questions are part of a larger survey conducted Jan 20-26, 2026, among 8,512 U.S. adults. Read findings about the broader economy.

Wide partisan differences on predictions of the effects of the administration’s tariff policies

Roughly half of Americans say the effects of the administration’s use of tariffs will be mostly negative for the country (51%) and for them and their families (52%) over the coming years, while much smaller shares say the effects on both will be either positive or neutral.

Overall, Democrats say the administration’s tariff policies will have mostly negative effects on the country and on them personally. Republicans’ views are more mixed.

Among Republicans

Impact on the country

Roughly half of Republicans (49%) say the tariffs will benefit the country, while about a third (34%) see mixed positive and negative effects. About two-in-ten (17%) expect the tariffs to negatively affect the country in coming years.

Personal impact

By contrast, Republicans’ assessments of the impact of the tariffs on them personally are less positive than their evaluations of the impact on the country.

Among Republicans, 36% say the tariffs will have mostly positive effects on them and their families over the coming years. A slightly larger share (43%) say the personal impact will be a roughly equal mix of positive and negative, and 20% expect the personal impact will be negative. While Republicans’ views are only modestly different than they were last summer, they have become more likely to say the long-term effects for both the country and them personally will be mixed.

Among Democrats

Democrats overwhelmingly say the long-term effects of the administration’s tariff policies will be negative – both for the country as a whole and for them and their families (84% each). Roughly one-in-ten say the effects of the tariffs on each will be mixed. Very few (3% on both questions) say effects will be positive.

Views among Democrats are relatively unchanged from a year ago.

This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals:

Research team

Jocelyn Kiley, Director, Political Research
Steven Shepard, Associate Director, Political Research
Hannah Hartig, Senior Researcher
Baxter Oliphant, Senior Researcher
Gabe Borelli, Research Associate
Andrew Daniller, Research Associate
Andy Cerda, Research Analyst
Joseph Copeland, Research Analyst
Shanay Gracia,Research Analyst
Ted Van Green, Research Analyst
Asta Kallo, Research Assistant

Communications and editorial

Nida Asheer, Senior Communications Manager
Maya Pottinger, Communications Associate
David Kent, Senior Editorial Specialist

Graphic design and web publishing

Peter Bell, Associate Director, Design and Production
Sara Atske, Digital Producer
Reem Nadeem, Digital Producer

Methodology

Andrew Mercer, Senior Research Methodologist
Dorene Asare-Marfo, Senior Panel Manager
Dana Popky, Associate Panel Manager
Arnold Lau, Research Methodologist

The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Overview

Data in this report comes from Wave 185 of the American Trends Panel (ATP), Pew Research Center’s nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. The survey was conducted from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26, 2026. A total of 8,512 panelists responded out of 9,302 who were sampled, for a survey-level response rate of 92%.  

The cumulative response rate accounting for all stages of nonresponse and attrition is 3%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and completed at least one item is 2%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 8,512 respondents is plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

The survey includes oversamples of non-Hispanic Asian adults and adults ages 18 to 29 in order to provide more precise estimates of the opinions and experiences of these smaller demographic subgroups. These oversampled groups are weighted back to reflect their correct proportions in the population.

SSRS conducted the survey for Pew Research Center via online (n=8,272) and live telephone (n=240) interviewing. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

To learn more about the ATP, read “About the American Trends Panel.”

Panel recruitment

Since 2018, the ATP has used address-based sampling (ABS) for recruitment. A study cover letter and a pre-incentive are mailed to a stratified, random sample of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s Computerized Delivery Sequence File. This Postal Service file has been estimated to cover 90% to 98% of the population.¹ Within each sampled household, the adult with the next birthday is selected to participate. Other details of the ABS recruitment protocol have changed over time but are available upon request.² Prior to 2018, the ATP was recruited using landline and cellphone random-digit-dial surveys administered in English and Spanish.

A national sample of U.S. adults has been recruited to the ATP approximately once per year since 2014. In some years, the recruitment has included additional efforts (known as an “oversample”) to improve the accuracy of data for underrepresented groups. For example, Hispanic adults, Black adults and Asian adults were oversampled in 2019, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Sample design

The overall target population for this survey was noninstitutionalized persons ages 18 and older living in the United States. It featured a stratified random sample from among ATP members who previously completed Wave 183. Non-Hispanic Asian adults and adults ages 18 to 29 were selected with certainty. The remaining panelists were sampled at rates designed to ensure that the share of respondents in each stratum is proportional to its share of the U.S. adult population to the greatest extent possible. Respondent weights are adjusted to account for differential probabilities of selection as described in the Weighting section below.

Questionnaire development and testing

The questionnaire was developed by Pew Research Center in consultation with SSRS. The web program used for online respondents was rigorously tested on both PC and mobile devices by the SSRS project team and Pew Research Center researchers. The SSRS project team also populated test data that was analyzed in SPSS to ensure the logic and randomizations were working as intended before launching the survey.

Incentives

All respondents were offered a post-paid incentive for their participation. Respondents could choose to receive the post-paid incentive in the form of a check or gift code to Amazon.com, Target.com or Walmart.com. Incentive amounts ranged from $5 to $20 depending on whether the respondent belongs to a part of the population that is harder or easier to reach. Differential incentive amounts were designed to increase panel survey participation among groups that traditionally have low survey response propensities.

Data collection protocol

The data collection field period for this survey was Jan. 20 to Jan. 26, 2026. Surveys were conducted via self-administered web survey or by live telephone interviewing. 

For panelists who take surveys online:³ Postcard notifications were mailed to a subset on Jan. 20.⁴ Survey invitations were sent out in two separate launches: soft launch and full launch. Sixty panelists were included in the soft launch, which began with an initial invitation sent on Jan. 20. All remaining English- and Spanish-speaking sampled online panelists were included in the full launch and were sent an invitation on Jan. 21.

Panelists participating online were sent an email invitation and up to two email reminders if they did not respond to the survey. ATP panelists who consented to SMS messages were sent an SMS invitation with a link to the survey and up to two SMS reminders.

For panelists who take surveys over the phone with a live interviewer: Prenotification postcards were mailed on Jan. 16. Soft launch took place on Jan. 20 and involved dialing until a total of four interviews had been completed. All remaining English- and Spanish-speaking sampled phone panelists’ numbers were dialed throughout the remaining field period. Panelists who take surveys via phone can receive up to six calls from trained SSRS interviewers.

Data quality checks

To ensure high-quality data, Center researchers performed data quality checks to identify any respondents showing patterns of satisficing. This includes checking for whether respondents left questions blank at very high rates or always selected the first or last answer presented. As a result of this checking, two ATP respondents were removed from the survey dataset prior to weighting and analysis.

Weighting

The ATP data is weighted in a process that accounts for multiple stages of sampling and nonresponse that occur at different points in the panel survey process. First, each panelist begins with a base weight that reflects their probability of recruitment into the panel. These weights are then calibrated to align with the population benchmarks in the accompanying table to correct for nonresponse to recruitment surveys and panel attrition. If only a subsample of panelists was invited to participate in the wave, this weight is adjusted to account for any differential probabilities of selection. Because respondents to this wave were sampled from among respondents to Wave 183, the weights were also adjusted to account for nonresponse to Wave 183.

Among the panelists who completed the survey, this weight is then calibrated again to align with the population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table and trimmed at the 1st and 99th percentiles to reduce the loss in precision stemming from variance in the weights. Sampling errors and tests of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Dispositions and response rates