Political partisanship has become so persistent in sentiment surveys that some economists say it’s getting harder to accurately measure moods of consumers. Surveys of Consumers director, Joanne Hsu, tells Marketplace that looking at how independents feel is a better gauge of sentiment, Independents’ confidence tends to land somewhere between that of Democrats and Republicans, “and… Continue reading The widening gap between political affiliation and consumer sentiment

ANN ARBOR—Consumer sentiment was little changed in November with a 2.6 index point decrease from last month that is within the margin of error, according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. Over the course of the month, sentiment initially fell as the federal shutdown dragged on, then it lifted slightly later in the… Continue reading With end of shutdown and worries over high prices, consumer sentiment shows minor variation

Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers, tells Business Insider that Americans are well aware that inflation has fallen, but prices haven’t come down and consumers know that, too. She says, “People are broadly feeling pretty negative about the economy.”