Most Americans rate the economy negatively as prices and affordability dominate voter concerns in mid-2026
Most Americans held a negative view of the economy in mid-2026, with prices and affordability ranking as the top concern among voters heading into the midterm elections, according to a new Pew Research Center. . .
Most Americans held a negative view of the economy in mid-2026, with prices and affordability ranking as the top concern among voters heading into the midterm elections, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released July 23. The survey, conducted July 6, 12 among 3,554 U. S. adults, also finds that Americans are less likely than they were in January to expect the economy to improve over the course of the next year. Prices and affordability top voter prioritiesBy a wide margin, voters most want candidates running for Congress to talk about economic issues, with many specifically mentioning prices and affordability. The findings underline how financial pressure has become a defining issue for Americans as the 2026 midterm election season approaches. Positive ratings of the economy are slightly lower than in January, when 28% rated the economy as excellent or good, and Americans’ economic ratings have hovered around this level for the last few years. Americans are less likely than they were in January to expect the economy to improve: 23% now say they expect economic conditions to be better a year from now, down from 31% in January. Partisan divide on economic outlookThe recent drop in positive economic ratings is primarily driven by a shift among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents: 41% now rate the economy as excellent or good, down from 49% in January. Just 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners rate the economy positively, essentially unchanged since early in President Donald Trump’s term. Americans remain concerned about the costs of healthcare, housing, food and energy. Concerns about gas prices, in particular, have risen sharply since January. On most economic issues, Democrats express more concern than Republicans. Americans are now almost evenly split over which party they most agree with on economic policies: 37% say the Democrats, while 36% say the GOP. How the survey was conductedData comes from Wave 196 of the American Trends Panel (ATP), Pew Research Center’s nationally representative panel of randomly selected U. S. adults. The data collection field period for this survey was July 6 to 12, 2026. A total of 3,554 panelists responded out of 4,173 who were sampled, for a survey-level response rate of 85%. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 3%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 1. 9 percentage points. SSRS conducted the survey for Pew Research Center via online (n=3,428) and live telephone (n=126) interviewing, with interviews conducted in both English and Spanish. The survey includes oversamples of non-Hispanic Asian adults, 18- to 29-year-old validated voters and Hispanic validated voters in order to provide more precise estimates of the opinions and experiences of these smaller demographic subgroups. A pattern of disengagement from economic optimismThe findings arrive at a moment when researchers have been mapping broader patterns of how Americans relate to public life and shared institutions. Aseparate Pew studyreleased earlier this month found that 62% of Americans fall into lower-engagement categories when it comes to civic and community participation. That backdrop may help explain why pessimistic economic sentiment faces few organized outlets for collective response. Consumer frustration with prices is reshaping choices at the most routine level of daily life. Research has consistently shown that financial stress tends to heighten awareness of small-scale costs, a dynamic that connects to the finding that affordability dominates what voters most want discussed on the campaign trail. That same attentiveness to routine spending was visible inPew’s recent mappingof Americans into four public-life groups, where lower-income households were consistently overrepresented in the least-engaged segments. Pew’sfull reporton Americans’ economic evaluations includes detailed trend data and demographic breakdowns. A companion report,“As the 2026 Midterms Approach, Economy Is Front and Center,”examines voter preferences and congressional candidate dynamics as November approaches.