Who's Actually Feeling Good About This Economy? The Short List
Consumer sentiment has tanked for four straight months, hitting near-record lows. Americans report feeling squeezed by high prices, slowing wage growth, and a weakening job market. The stock market's recent retreat from record highs hasn't helped.
But aggregate misery masks serious disparities. Some groups are doing fine — even optimistic. Here's who's bucking the trend, and why the gap matters.
1. Republicans: The Partisan Sentiment Gap Widens
Economic confidence tracks political affiliation more than actual conditions. Republicans, gloomy under Biden, have turned decidedly upbeat since Trump's return. Democrats experienced the reverse pattern. This isn't new — the trend dates to Reagan — but political polarization has made it extreme.
Result: Republicans rate the economy substantially higher than Democrats or independents, despite shared exposure to inflation and labor market conditions. Sentiment is increasingly about whose team holds power, not what's in your wallet.
2. Higher-Income Households: The Cushion Effect
Wealthier Americans feel better because they are better insulated. They spend a smaller share of income on essentials like gas and groceries, leaving more room to absorb price increases.
But middle-income sentiment has dropped 17% since July — worse than either high or low earners. The squeeze is moving up the income ladder, and the gap between top earners and everyone else is widening.
3. Stock Owners: Market Gains Create a Mood Divide
The S&P 500 has posted substantial gains this year, hitting record highs before retreating in recent weeks. Those holding stocks — especially the top 20% of portfolios — feel flush despite the recent pullback. Those without stocks? Worse than they have all year.
Context matters: only 60% of Americans own stocks, typically through retirement accounts. Ownership skews heavily toward higher earners, college graduates, and white households. The wealth effect is real, but it's limited to those already winning.
4. Americans Under 35: Optimism or Insulation?
Younger adults report the highest confidence in two years, bucking the older-cohort trend. Why? Possibly wage growth — workers 16-24 saw 5.9% annual gains versus 4.2% overall. Or maybe it's structural: many still live with parents, rely on family health insurance, or haven't yet absorbed full cost-of-living burdens.
Economists aren't entirely sure. But the optimism gap between under-35s and older Americans is stark.
The Takeaway
Economic sentiment isn't uniform — it's stratified by income, portfolio holdings, age, and increasingly, political identity. The headline number obscures who's actually hurting and who's coasting.
If you're middle-income, stockless, over 35, and not particularly enthused about whoever's president, congratulations: you're the median American, and the data says you're right to feel lousy.
#Economy #ConsumerSentiment #WealthGap #StockMarket #PartisanPolarization #MiddleClass #EconomicData #IncomeInequality
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Consumer sentiment has tanked for four straight months, hitting near-record lows. Americans report feeling squeezed by high prices, slowing wage growth, and a weakening job market. The stock market's recent retreat from record highs hasn't helped.
But aggregate misery masks serious disparities. Some groups are doing fine — even optimistic. Here's who's bucking the trend, and why the gap matters.
1. Republicans: The Partisan Sentiment Gap Widens
Economic confidence tracks political affiliation more than actual conditions. Republicans, gloomy under Biden, have turned decidedly upbeat since Trump's return. Democrats experienced the reverse pattern. This isn't new — the trend dates to Reagan — but political polarization has made it extreme.
Result: Republicans rate the economy substantially higher than Democrats or independents, despite shared exposure to inflation and labor market conditions. Sentiment is increasingly about whose team holds power, not what's in your wallet.
2. Higher-Income Households: The Cushion Effect
Wealthier Americans feel better because they are better insulated. They spend a smaller share of income on essentials like gas and groceries, leaving more room to absorb price increases.
But middle-income sentiment has dropped 17% since July — worse than either high or low earners. The squeeze is moving up the income ladder, and the gap between top earners and everyone else is widening.
3. Stock Owners: Market Gains Create a Mood Divide
The S&P 500 has posted substantial gains this year, hitting record highs before retreating in recent weeks. Those holding stocks — especially the top 20% of portfolios — feel flush despite the recent pullback. Those without stocks? Worse than they have all year.
Context matters: only 60% of Americans own stocks, typically through retirement accounts. Ownership skews heavily toward higher earners, college graduates, and white households. The wealth effect is real, but it's limited to those already winning.
4. Americans Under 35: Optimism or Insulation?
Younger adults report the highest confidence in two years, bucking the older-cohort trend. Why? Possibly wage growth — workers 16-24 saw 5.9% annual gains versus 4.2% overall. Or maybe it's structural: many still live with parents, rely on family health insurance, or haven't yet absorbed full cost-of-living burdens.
Economists aren't entirely sure. But the optimism gap between under-35s and older Americans is stark.
The Takeaway
Economic sentiment isn't uniform — it's stratified by income, portfolio holdings, age, and increasingly, political identity. The headline number obscures who's actually hurting and who's coasting.
If you're middle-income, stockless, over 35, and not particularly enthused about whoever's president, congratulations: you're the median American, and the data says you're right to feel lousy.
#Economy #ConsumerSentiment #WealthGap #StockMarket #PartisanPolarization #MiddleClass #EconomicData #IncomeInequality
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📰 The $31 Trillion Hangover
The numbers say “prosperity.” The lives say something else.
Growth is solid, unemployment is low, stocks are near records. Yet people like Leith Olson — on a combined income of around $150,000 — are cutting camps for their kids, skipping games, and driving decade‑old Toyotas. The mid‑century promise of the American middle class has been quietly repriced.
Over the past several years, the cost of living has jumped close to 30 percent while wages have finally slipped back below inflation. Total worker compensation has barely moved since 2025, even as corporate profits sit at their fattest share of national income since the early 1950s. The president calls the affordability crisis a hoax. People experiencing it call it their life.
This is not a story about the poor versus the rich. It is a story about people doing “everything right” and watching the system move the goalposts.
A veteran municipal worker in Durham cuts meat and snacks to pay for gas just to get to his job.
A state hospital employee sees a 3 percent raise swallowed by health costs and inflation.
A cafeteria worker organizes a union because “efficiency” at the bank means squeezing older staff while child care for a special‑needs kid is so expensive it may as well not exist.
Both parties are in the line of fire, and not in a heroic way. Republicans sell a strong economy while their own voters talk about “corruption” and “irresponsible capitalists.”
Democrats promise to “fix it” once they win, but struggle to explain what that actually means for someone staring at rent, insurance and grocery bills.
The economy feels less like a social contract and more like a maze: you can get ahead, but, as one worker put it, “you gotta be devious in how you do it.”
The irony is brutal: consumer spending still props up the system, fueled by shrinking savings and one‑off tax refunds.
People are keeping the show running by quietly burning their own future. On paper, the American dream remains available. In practice, more and more voters are treating it as a discontinued product.
#usa #economy #middleclass #inequality #elections #capitalism
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
The numbers say “prosperity.” The lives say something else.
Growth is solid, unemployment is low, stocks are near records. Yet people like Leith Olson — on a combined income of around $150,000 — are cutting camps for their kids, skipping games, and driving decade‑old Toyotas. The mid‑century promise of the American middle class has been quietly repriced.
Over the past several years, the cost of living has jumped close to 30 percent while wages have finally slipped back below inflation. Total worker compensation has barely moved since 2025, even as corporate profits sit at their fattest share of national income since the early 1950s. The president calls the affordability crisis a hoax. People experiencing it call it their life.
This is not a story about the poor versus the rich. It is a story about people doing “everything right” and watching the system move the goalposts.
A veteran municipal worker in Durham cuts meat and snacks to pay for gas just to get to his job.
A state hospital employee sees a 3 percent raise swallowed by health costs and inflation.
A cafeteria worker organizes a union because “efficiency” at the bank means squeezing older staff while child care for a special‑needs kid is so expensive it may as well not exist.
Both parties are in the line of fire, and not in a heroic way. Republicans sell a strong economy while their own voters talk about “corruption” and “irresponsible capitalists.”
Democrats promise to “fix it” once they win, but struggle to explain what that actually means for someone staring at rent, insurance and grocery bills.
The economy feels less like a social contract and more like a maze: you can get ahead, but, as one worker put it, “you gotta be devious in how you do it.”
The irony is brutal: consumer spending still props up the system, fueled by shrinking savings and one‑off tax refunds.
People are keeping the show running by quietly burning their own future. On paper, the American dream remains available. In practice, more and more voters are treating it as a discontinued product.
#usa #economy #middleclass #inequality #elections #capitalism
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