A new poll showed that a significant number of voters rate inflation and U.S. economic decline as their top concern going into the November midterm elections.
Overall, more than 90 percent of voters are worried about the U.S. economy and inflation, the poll revealed.
The consumer price index, a key metric that measures inflation, reached 8.2 percent in September—running near 40-year highs. Another metric, the producer price index, rose to 8.5 percent year-over-year.
More than 80 percent told Politico that the economy would play a significant role in deciding who to vote for. About 75 percent of Democrats and 90 percent of Republicans said it would play a major factor in their decision-making process come November.
The poll revealed that 70 percent of voters believe the United States is heading down the wrong track, continuing a trend of majority polled voters feeling that way for 38 consecutive weeks.
The poll also comes as CEOs and some organizations said that a recession may be on the horizon.
The Fed has raised its benchmark policy rate from the near-zero level at the beginning of this year to the current range of 3.00 percent to 3.25 percent and has warned of pain ahead for the U.S. economy as it tries to bring inflation back down to its 2 percent goal without causing a recession. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation is more than three times that target.
In its report, the OECD noted that inflation is posing “significant challenges” in the United States, given that it has broadened in scope from goods to services, keeping the Fed on an aggressive tightening path for now. “Nonetheless, considerable flexibility is warranted and policy deliberations will benefit from careful monitoring of the impact,” of the global factors driving up inflation, the OECD said, as well as “the tightening of financial conditions on the economy.”
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