U.S. President Donald Trump gestures before leaving the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, U.S., September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
On Friday, it was revealed that U.S. consumer sentiment has plunged to a new low, falling below the previous record-breaking low set in August. What’s more, Republican sentiment has “tumbled” sharply, which is bad news for President Donald Trump with the midterms looming.
This is according to the widely trusted Consumer Sentiment Index charted by the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers, which found that sentiment has dropped to 47.8 in September, down from 51.7 the previous month. This is lower than was forecast by economists, who, according to a survey conducted by Reuters, expected it to drop to 51. The numbers from August were already the lowest in the survey’s history, so in light of the new report, Trump’s economy has hit a new low. As the survey explains, “With a resurgence in fuel prices and trade tensions, consumers anticipate greater pressures on their pocketbooks to come.”
What’s more, the survey found that consumers expect inflation to rise by 4.6 percent over the next year, while they only thought it would rise by 4 percent in August. Consumers also have higher inflation expectations over the next 5 to 10 years. And for the first time since 2023, a majority of consumers expect interest rates to rise in the year ahead as the Federal Reserve moves to slow inflation.
According to the report, the worse-than-predicted numbers are driven by “sizeable declines” among Democrats and Republicans. As Bloomberg contributor Joe Weisenthal noted, “Economic sentiment even among Republicans has been tumbling sharply all year.” He pointed to a chart provided by the University of Michigan that shows Republicans experienced a major upswing in economic optimism in 2024, which peaked around when Trump took office. After some downswings and upswings, Republican consumer sentiment began a steady decline after Trump launched war with Iran, and it has been in freefall since July.
As the report explains, “Notably, even Republicans, who generally supported economic policy under the current administration, have exhibited a marked decline in favorability. As recently as March this year, a solid 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government was doing a good job with the economy. This month, the share fell to 35 percent, the lowest reading of the current administration and below nearly all readings during the first Trump administration.”
The news dropped amidst a flurry of bad economic indicators. A separate report found that inflation has remained persistently above projections, hitting 3.4 percent in August versus the 2 percent target. Inflation has also outpaced wage gains.
“Americans are getting financially squeezed,” said Navy Federal Chief Economist Heather Long. “Many American households have to belt tighten and make difficult choices on what to cut back on. This is why consumption appears to be slowing.”