Has election season affected Americans' finances? What they say depends on their party

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

As the 2024 election draws closer, markets are jumpy. How about consumers? 

In the latest wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker, we asked people from across the country whether the run-up to election day had impacted their spending or saving. Taken in total, about half of Americans said they’d been spending less due to the uncertainty. Most demographic splits — including household income, gender, education, and region — also toed the 50% agree mark.  

But there was one particularly strong exception: Republicans were consistently more likely than Democrats to say that their economic outlook had been influenced by the upcoming election.

Of course, what Americans say about their spending may not translate to an actual shift in behavior (less still a lasting one). 

But this partisan gap extended from Americans’ current financial activities to their general economic expectations: Republicans were much less likely to say that the election has had no impact on their spending (at 40%, vs. 60% of Democrats), while Democrats were much more likely (36% to 22%) to think that the new president will have an impact on the economy than Republicans. 

76% of Republicans said they think that if the candidate they prefer loses, it will be bad for their personal economic situation (compared with 60% of Dems and 61% of the total population). 

And when party identifications are broken down further, the gap is even more striking: 68% of strong Republicans strongly agreed that if the candidate they prefer loses, it would be bad for their personal economic situation, compared with 38% of moderate Republicans and 40% of strong Democrats who strongly agreed with the statement. 

The latest Reuters-Ipsos survey offers some context: among registered voters, Trump is seen by more registered voters as having a better plan, approach or policy on economic issues than Harris; 44% of voters felt Trump had a better plan on the U.S. stock market.

Yet in recent months, Republicans and Democrats have been similarly likely to know or care about economic issues. According to the Ipsos Care-o-Meter, 53% of Republicans were familiar with the Federal Reserve Bank issuing an interest rate cut of 0.5%, along with 54% of Democrats. 44% of Republicans knew about a Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report being revised downward, compared with 40% of Democrats — and they cared nearly the exact same amount (78% and 79%). 

And they experience other economic signals similarly: Americans of both parties are about equally likely to name inflation as a primary reason they’re spending more on groceries (82% of Republicans vs 73% of Democrats). 

“Regardless of political party, consumers are saying the economy is on their mind. And we’ve seen that in their decision-making: foot traffic has been trending down all year in both limited service and casual dining restaurants, while  credit card spending is rising and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) offers are proliferating,” said Brad Christian, Head of Strategic Growth for Ipsos' U.S. Channel Performance team. 

“The brands that develop meaningful value offers and adapt their pricing strategies and customer experiences to align with Americans’ divergent perceptions of economic health will be the winners in this marketplace, both now and after the election.” 

Still, political alignment wasn’t the only split in the data.

Black Americans were more likely (at 61%) than white Americans (at 43%)  to report spending less and saving more due to the election. Young Americans were more likely to say the same than older ones (55% of 18 to 34-year-olds say they're spending less due to the election, vs 45% of Americans aged 35-54 and 41% of those 55 and up.) 

Yet both younger Americans and Black Americans were much more likely to agree that “as far as the economy goes, I don’t think it matter who wins the election” — potentially signaling a shortfall in confidence for both candidates. 

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

The shifting political landscape of what we trust 

Fewer think AI is coming for white collar jobs

Many report economic anxiety and spending shifts during election season 

People with higher incomes have more expectation of generational wealth

The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about?