(co-authored with Jack Chylak)
We have a lot more in common than we may think. While the biggest concern among US households is “Rising Prices”, the second biggest is “Political Unrest”. This survey is fielded during the first two weeks of each month, with the July survey running from July 4th through July 10th, before the assassination attempt and before President Biden exited the race.
Exhibit 1 shows trends in what US households say is their greatest concern for the coming year. The exact question we asked was:
“Now, thinking about the country as a whole and not just you and your household, what are you most concerned about for the coming year?”
“Rising Prices” comes in first, and it has been stable since the start of the year with around 35% of US households saying “Rising Prices” is their greatest concern. In effect, prices of everyday items have stopped increasing like they did during the past two years, but price levels remain high (see here and select a category to look at recent trends in price levels versus year-over-year price changes).
Exhibit 1 also shows US households have become increasingly concerned about “Political Unrest” for the year ahead. Even before recent events, Americans were becoming increasingly concerned about the potential for political unrest in the coming year.
Americans are then concerned about immigration, unemployment & recession, and crime in roughly equal measure.
When we disaggregate who is concerned about “Political Unrest”, we see that Americans across the political spectrum are concerned to similar degrees (see Exhibit 2). Roughly 20% of Americans surveyed from July 4th to July 10th stated that their greatest concern for the country as a whole for the coming year was “Political Unrest”. This was the case for panelists living in US counties with the greatest vote share for Biden in 2020 as it was for panelists living in counties with the greatest vote share for Trump in 2020.
Lastly, Exhibit 3 shows that across the political spectrum, concern about “Political Unrest” has been increasing. Here is something we have in common regardless of political leanings: we’re equally concerned, and we’re becoming more concerned, about political unrest.
Stay tuned for when we run the August version of this survey!
American Consumer 