Concerns about rising inflation, especially in housing and food costs, have jumped, doubling the fears of just three years ago, according to a groundbreaking “Inflation Index” survey provided to Secrets.
In the new Zogby Poll, the inflation that the public perceives has increased 10%. That is double what was felt in 2018.
Zogby Analytics pollster Jonathan Zogby told us, “Americans’ fear of inflation continues to rise. On a scale 1-10, where one stands for ‘not at all afraid’ and 10 for ‘terrified,’ average fear of inflation this year was 6.2, compared to last year’s 5.9. Republicans and Donald Trump voters, as well as baby boomers and Generation X, are most worried about inflation.”
Inflation has actually increased to 5%, with the consumer price index at an adjusted 5.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Standards.
Zogby has surveyed inflation concerns in 2016, 2018, and 2020, and this time he found that the biggest worries are over housing and food costs.
“Similar to previous three surveys, we have asked our respondents to separately estimate the change in prices for the following categories: food and beverages, housing, healthcare, college education and childcare. The highest mean perceived inflation was for food and beverages and housing (10.8%) and lowest for childcare (7.3%),” he said in his report.
In his past surveys, there has been a clear partisan gap. Under Trump, for example, Democrats had more concerns about inflation than Republicans. Now, as real inflation is hitting home, even Democrats are worried.
“Unlike the results obtained in 2018 and 2020 when Democrats perceived inflation to be significantly higher than Republicans, this year both Democrats and Republicans agree on inflation levels,” he wrote.
A gender gap, however, remains, possibly in part because women do the bulk of food buying in many homes.
“The partisan gap in perceived inflation has disappeared over the past year while the gender gap has persisted. The average overall perceived inflation among females is 11.7% — one percentage point higher than in 2020 and two percentage points higher than among males. Baby Boomers (12.3%) and Generation X (11.4%) continue to perceive inflation as higher than Millennials (9.4%) and Generation Z respondents do (8.6%, three percentage points higher than in 2020), but age gaps have narrowed over the past year,” said the analysis.
While inflation worries and rising prices are a concern for the White House, Zogby has also found that more feel the nation is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction, 52%-41%.