76% of respondents to a recent FOX NEWS poll view the U.S. economy negatively and a majority think things will get worse before they improve. Inflation has slowed, but it is not zero. Prices are not going to revert back to lower levels. Interest rates have been growing and housing affordability is keeping many first-time home buyers out of the market.
Ray Perryman Economist of the Perryman Group thinks the economy is not as bad as the responses to the poll indicate. Personal perspectives can influence the way that respondents participate in polls. For example, a person that is unemployed might be more pessimistic about the economy than one that has a job. Perryman thinks that the economy is actually in better shape than some may think - job growth, output growth and income growth are all positive. "All economics are local", according to Perryman.
Perryman believes that partisanship has a big impact on the way that people respond to these polls - more so than in the past - given the highly partisan nature of discourse these days. Respondents will tend to be more negative about the economy when their party is out of office and more favorable when their candidate has been elected.