UGLY start: Biden’s third year will be marred by high taxes, strikes, unemployment, crime, political infighting, inflation, a skyrocketing deficit and falling stocks, Americans say in their grim forecast for 2023
- Four in five Americans expect higher taxes in bearish 2023 forecast
- Similar figures predict further economic problems and a large budget deficit
- Almost two-thirds expect stock market pain after major losses in 2022
- US adults will see more political struggles as Republicans take control of the House of Representatives
- Democrats have a rosier tint in their glasses than Republicans, says Gallup
- America and Russia are down while China’s star is rising, majorities say
Americans are heading into a year marked by economic uncertainty, political turmoil and higher unemployment and crime rates, according to a gloomy New Year’s poll.
The Gallup poll of 1,800 adults comes as President Joe Biden begins his third year in office in a nation hit by the pandemic and economic shockwaves from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
If anything, Americans foresee more pain. A majority of respondents predicted adverse conditions in 12 of the 13 economic, political, social and international areas surveyed.
“Americans are welcoming 2023 with great skepticism and little expectation that the economic struggles that ended 2022 will ease,” the polling group said in a statement.
“Few US adults also predict that the partisan politics plaguing the nation will improve.”
The Gallup poll of 1,800 adults was conducted last month. It comes as President Joe Biden begins his third year at the helm of a nation battered by the pandemic and economic shockwaves from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
About eight in ten say 2023 will be a year of economic difficulties, with higher taxes and a growing budget deficit. More than six in ten respondents say that prices will rise sharply and the stock market will fall in the coming year.
These sentiments follow the gloomy economic trajectory of 2022 — Wall Street’s worst year since the global financial crisis of 2008, when inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1 percent in June.
Annual inflation fell to 7.1 percent in November, but the Federal Reserve may decide to aggressively raise interest rates further to bring inflation back to 2 percent.
The unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in November and the US has been largely spared widespread job losses. Still, Americans see that changing. Just over half predicted the rate would increase in 2023.
Domestically, 90 percent of Americans predicted another year of political conflict, according to a poll released as the new Congress convened in Washington, DC, which will see Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and usher in a new era of divided government would herald.
The researchers also found that 72 percent of Americans say crime will increase this year, and 56 percent predict there will be many union strikes.
A trader working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York looks down on another bad trading day. 2022 was Wall Street’s worst year since the global financial crisis of 2008
People wait for unemployment benefits at a center in Las Vegas. The US has been largely spared job losses, but Americans are seeing that changing. Just over half predicted the rate would increase in 2023.
Democrats were more optimistic than their Republican counterparts — a phenomenon typical of supporters of the incumbent president’s party, Gallup said
The poll comes as President Joe Biden begins his third year in office
Across the country, Americans are far from expecting another year of international tensions, and the majority believe that US power in the world will wane while China’s will increase.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said Russia’s global influence would decline in 2023, likely reflecting Moscow’s recent setbacks and territorial losses in its war against neighboring Ukraine, the study found.
Although Americans were broadly pessimistic, this split along party lines, with Democrats being more optimistic than their Republican counterparts – a phenomenon typical of supporters of the incumbent president’s party.
Democrats diverged from Republicans in their predictions for 2023, with the majority saying they expect full or rising job numbers, reasonable price hikes, a stronger stock market and greater US power in the world, researchers found.