Americans’ confidence in the economy has dropped to a nearly four-year low, according to a Gallup poll released Friday.
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index sank to -45 in May, down from -38 in April. This marks the lowest reading since October 2022, when the index score was identical to the current reading, Gallup reported. (RELATED: Elon Musk On Track To Be World’s First Trillionaire After Latest Move)
The current index score is above the recent low of -58 in June 2022, according to Gallup.
The poll found that just 16% of Americans thought the nation’s current economic conditions are excellent or good, the lowest since April 2023. Forty-nine percent of U.S. adults now say economic conditions are poor and 34% now rate the economy as only fair, the survey shows.
Seventy-six percent of Americans think economic conditions are worsening, while 20% say they are improving. The share saying conditions are getting worse is now at its highest point since May 2023 and has been steadily growing thus far in 2026, Gallup reported.
The survey’s release comes as the White House has reportedly been attempting to craft a winning economic messaging strategy ahead of November’s midterm elections. Recent polling suggests that voters now trust Democrats over Republicans on economic issues.
“President Trump was resoundingly re-elected to the White House precisely because he understood how Americans were left behind by Joe Biden’s economic disaster, and restoring prosperity for everyday Americans has accordingly been a Day One priority for this Administration,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “While the President has been clear about short-term disruptions as a result of Operation Epic Fury, the Administration is focused on implementing the proven Trump agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance to keep America on a solid economic trajectory.”
“As traffic in the Strait of Hormuz normalizes again, Americans will again see gas prices plummet, real wages grow, inflation cool, and trillions in investments continue pouring in,” Desai added.
U.S. inflation accelerated faster than expected in April as the Iran war drove up gas and food prices nationwide. The Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation, rose 3.8% over the 12 months ending in April, and increased 0.6% on a monthly basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on May 12.
GasBuddy has projected the national average gas price will hit $4.48 per gallon on Memorial Day, marking a sharp increase from $3.14 per gallon in 2025.
People shop in a supermarket in Alhambra, California on May 12, 2026. Consumer inflation in the United States hit a three-year high in April, with the economic fallout of US President Donald Trump’s Iran war rippling through the world’s largest economy. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images)
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index, which measures small business owners’ outlook on the future of their businesses and the economy, increased 0.1 points in April to 95.9, remaining below its 52-year average of 98 for the second consecutive month.
“Inflationary pressures continue to be a challenge for Main Street,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a May 12 statement. “While small business optimism is currently fragile, the benefits of the Working Families Tax Cut Act should start to feed into the private sector over the next few months.”
The White House claimed in a May 4 fact sheet that President Donald Trump’s economic policies have “restored confidence in American small businesses” during his second term.
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted by ReconMR from May 1 to 17, among a random sample of 1,001 U.S. adults. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
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