{"id":45246,"date":"2026-08-14T21:59:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45246"},"modified":"2026-08-14T21:59:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:59:52","slug":"consumer-sentiment-dips-especially-among-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45246","title":{"rendered":"Consumer sentiment dips, especially among Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/graphics.axios.com\/hermesv2\/2026-08-14-1026-consumer-sentiment-index\/fallbacks\/2026-08-14-1026-consumer-sentiment-index-fallback.png\" \/><\/p>\n<div>Data: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sca.isr.umich.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">University of Michigan<\/a>; Note: August 2026 number is preliminary; Chart: Neil Irwin\/Axios<\/div>\n<p>Public opinion about the economy appears to be souring further this month, per the preliminary release of the University of Michigan&#8217;s consumer sentiment index.<\/p>\n<p><strong>By the numbers: <\/strong>Overall sentiment fell 8% in the early days of August, after two consecutive months of improvement.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>The index fell to 51, from 55.2 in July. That remains above the recent lows reached in the spring, when gasoline prices were soaring.<\/li>\n<li>Inflation expectations were stable, with expected inflation over the next year ticking up to 4.3% and over the next five years unchanged at 3.3%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The intrigue: <\/strong>The steepest month-to-month drop in sentiment was among survey respondents who identify as Republicans, with their outlook now 19% below readings from just before the Iran war and at the lowest since the 2024 election.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>&#8220;Although the early-month weakening in sentiment was pervasive across various demographic groups, notably large reductions were seen among older consumers, lower-income consumers, and those without a college degree,&#8221; said Joanne Hsu, director of the Michigan survey.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;These groups are all particularly vulnerable to any erosion of purchasing power stemming from inflation,&#8221; she added.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Across all consumers, only 8% expect their income growth to exceed inflation in the year ahead, down from 18% in December 2024, a reflection of the belief that high prices will continue to be burdensome.&#8221; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Data: University of Michigan; Note: August 2026 number is preliminary; Chart: Neil Irwin\/Axios Public opinion about the economy appears to be souring further this month, per the preliminary release of the University of Michigan&#8217;s consumer sentiment index. By the numbers: Overall sentiment fell 8% in the early days of August, after two consecutive months of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/graphics.axios.com\/hermesv2\/2026-08-14-1026-consumer-sentiment-index\/fallbacks\/2026-08-14-1026-consumer-sentiment-index-fallback.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}