Surprise! The Election Is Making Everyone More Optimistic

The election is making Americans of all political stripes more optimistic about the economy.

While pundits see this election cycle as deeply divisive, Americans have become more optimistic about the economy.

The lastest polling from the Economist and YouGov shows that nearly one-third of voters think their household financial situation will be better a year from now than today. That’s a sharp contrast to the 15 percent who say they are better off now than a year ago.

It’s also a change from earlier this year. In July, just 22 percent of voters said they expected to be better off a year from now.

Optimism is rising across the political spectrum. Back in July, 26 percent of Democrats were optimistic about their personal financial situation. Now 42 percent are. One-fifth of Republicans were optimistic in July and this fell to 17 percent in September. Now it is up to 23 percent.

Among independents, just 17 percent were optimistic in July. Now 28 percent are.

Wall Street’s big investors are optimistic also. The Bank of America quarterly global fund manager survey recorded the biggest jump in investor optimism since July of 2020.