As American voters head to the polls for the U.S. midterms this week, widespread frustration over the economy is taking center stage. Most voters are angry and frustrated about the state of the economy and the way Donald Trump has managed it, setting up what analysts expect to be a pivotal moment.
If you want evidence of that dissatisfaction, look no further than the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment, which shows consumer confidence is plummetting under Trump. "Only three times since the 1970s have more than half of Americans said their government's doing bad job managing the economy. Right now it's at 74 per cent," said Kathryn Anne Edwards, a labour economist and policy consultant in Houston.
The index gauges consumer sentiment, and Edwards notes that the survey is one of the biggest and longest standing. The sentiment is lower today than it was during the toughest recessions in the 1980s or even the financial crisis, reflecting deep-seated economic frustration set to boil over as ballots are cast this week.
