Ipsos Money Matters

As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office we crack open how Americans are feeling about where the economy is and where it could be headed in 2025.

Have you heard about the price of eggs?

The soaring cost of the breakfast staple in the U.S. is just the latest example of prices gone haywire in the first half of this decade.

It all started with the eye-popping cost of hand sanitizer and toilet paper in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Since then the rising price of everything from cottages to cars to concerts has become the focus, nay obsession, of Americans and others across the globe.

It wasn't always this way.

From a bubble to a boil

As Trump readies to swear in as the 47th U.S. president on January 20 Americans continue to be fixated on the cost of living.

Almost half (46%) of Americans said inflation is a top concern for their country in December 2024, versus just 6% who said the same in December 2019. At a global level, inflation is now a top concern for 32% on average across 29 countries, still well up from 11% five years ago.

Meanwhile, the latest wave of the Ipsos Cost of Living Monitor finds close to two in five (38%) Americans say they're worse off than before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred and 22% think inflation will never return to normal in their country.

In other words, inflation has gone from a non-issue to the issue that has taken hold of the collective consciousness and has yet to let go.

As Sarah Feldman , Editorial Director for Ipsos US , explains:

"Even as inflation is coming down, the simple truth is that many Americans are still having trouble making ends meet. Lower prices don’t necessarily mean low prices. Prices rose so quickly, leaving many frustrated and scraping by. Americans are still reeling and adjusting to that."

And even though the consumer price index (CPI) in the U.S. is down from its high of 9.1% in June 2022 inflation is proving stickier than some hoped, with the latest report released this week revealing the CPI rose 2.9% year-over-year with everyday items like gas and, yes, eggs driving the increase.

Trump seized on this obsession with inflation during his successful campaign to snag a second, non-consecutive term, last year. Throughout the campaign the economy was the top issue and Trump repeatedly promised to Make America Great Again (MAGA).

Sunnyside down

Trump is returning to Washington under some dark emotional economic clouds.

While inflation and unemployment are down from pandemic highs people across the U.S. are feeling pretty gloomy.

Just over two in five (41%) of Americans say the current economic situation in their country is good, that's well off the 70% who said the same in December 2019 right before the pandemic and the 55% who said the same in December 2016 right before Trump's first term.

And the majority (62%) currently think the country is on the wrong track. More specifically, the vast majority (73%) of Americans believe their cost of living is heading in the wrong direction right now.

There are some glimmers of light.

Most (68%) Americans predict prices in the U.S. will increase faster than people's incomes in 2025, but that's 10 points lower year-over-year. There's also been a significant drop in the proportion who think inflation will be higher in the U.S. this year, dropping 10 points to 59%. And just over half (52%) predict unemployment will be higher, down seven points year-over-year.

At the same time there's been a steep decline in concern about interest rate hikes, with 54% predicting rates will be higher in 2025, well down from the 75% of Americans who said the same of 2024.

"Despite still feeling squeezed by prices, Americans are noticing that things aren’t getting worse (even if people don’t feel things are great right now either)," says Feldman.

"Wages are rising, though many don’t feel like they are keeping pace with the cost of living. The economy and the public’s relationship with it are complicated, marked by a wariness over prices and a sense that things just maybe are getting better."

And though things might get better in the year ahead the latest Ipsos Consumer Tracker reveals just over two in five Democrats (42%) and Republicans (44%) in the U.S. currently feel that after paying their bills they don't have enough money left to spend on the things they want.

You've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet

When Trump returns to the White House on January 20 he's got some pretty bold plans for righting America's economic ship.

The MAGA leader has threatened tariffs against Canada, Mexico and the European Union. And he's also ruminated about making Canada the 51st state, as well as taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal. The impact on the national and international economy could be — to borrow a Trump term — huge.

How serious the 47th president is about some of these suggestions, and whether any of this would bring prices of eggs and other goods back down to Earth, remains to be seen. The one thing that's for sure? Inflation-weary Americans voted for radical change and it looks like they're about to get what they voted for.

Check out more of our global polls here: https://www.ipsos.com/en/news-and-events/overview