Americans have a grim view of the economy, with consumer sentiment falling to a record low this month as measured by the University of Michigan’s survey. The university said Friday that its final Consumer Sentiment Index for April dropped 6.6% from March and 4.6% from a year ago to an all-time low of 49.8, just below the reading of 50 recorded in June 2022.
The final number for April was a slight improvement over the preliminary index reading of 47.6 reported earlier this month. Yet it is notably below the sentiment levels found in Michigan’s survey during recessions, the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Inflation expectations for a year from now jumped from 3.8% in March to 4.7% this month, the largest one-month increase since April 2025, when President Trump announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs. And longer-run inflation expectations rose this month to 3.5%, the highest since October 2025.
“Decreases in sentiment were seen across political party, income, age, and education,” surveys director Joanne Hsu said in a statement. “After the two-week cease-fire was announced and gas prices softened a touch, sentiment recovered a modest portion of its early-month losses. The Iran conflict appears to influence consumer views primarily through shocks to gasoline and potentially other prices. In contrast, military and diplomatic developments that do not lift supply constraints or lower energy prices are unlikely to buoy consumers.”
Consumers blame Trump for higher gas prices: With gas prices hovering above $4 a gallon — compared with $3.17 a gallon a year ago, according to AAA — a new Reuters/Ipsos poll out Friday showed that most Americans blame Trump for the increase.
The Reuters survey, conducted from April 15 to 20, found that more than three-quarters of Americans say that Trump bears at least a “fair amount” of responsibility for the recent surge in gas prices. More than half, 54%, say Trump shoulders a “great deal” of blame for the higher prices, compared with 6% who say he is not responsible for the increase.
Nearly all Democrats, 95%, blame Trump for the rise in costs, and 82% of independents share that view, but Republicans don’t spare the president, either, as 55% say the gas prices are his responsibility.
The survey also found that 82% call inflation a very big concern for them personally, and 77% say the same about fuel prices specifically. Just 27% agreed with the notion, which Trump said recently, that the economy is “booming,” while 70% disagreed with that statement, including 38% who strongly disagreed.
Nearly six in 10 voters in the survey say they would be less likely to support candidates who back Trump's approach to the war with Iran in this year’s midterm elections.
The Reuters poll surveyed 4.557 U.S. adults, including 3,577 registered voters. It had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The bottom line: “More pain will come as higher transportation costs are passed along for food, appliances, toys and every other item that travels on a ship, car or plane," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told Reuters. “Sentiment won't improve until the Strait of Hormuz is open and there is a permanent end to the conflict.”