2d ago

Americans putting life on hold amid economic anxiety under Trump, poll shows

www.theguardian.com

Harris poll for Guardian finds people reconsidering major life events such as having children or buying a home

Americans are reconsidering major life events including marriage, having children and buying a home amid economic anxiety in the opening months of the Trump presidency, according to an exclusive poll for the Guardian.

Six in 10 Americans said the economy has affected at least one of their major life goals, according to the Harris poll, citing either lack of affordability or anxiety around the current economy.

Though Donald Trump’s tariff policies have only been in place for a few weeks, and though he has temporarily walked back on some of his harshest policies, the findings are a sign that Trump’s economic agenda could have long-term effects.

politics @lemmy.world

spaghettiwestern @sh.itjust.works

2d ago

Americans putting life on hold amid economic anxiety under Trump, poll shows

www.theguardian.com /business/2025/may/12/americans-economy-trump-poll

Conservative @lemm.ee

SatansMaggotyCumFart @lemmy.world

2d ago

Americans putting life on hold amid economic anxiety under Trump, poll shows

www.theguardian.com /business/2025/may/12/americans-economy-trump-poll

Hybrid War Lost @lemm.ee

RoundSparrow @ .ee @lemm.ee

2d ago

Americans putting life on hold amid economic anxiety under Trump, poll shows <<< Russia won Hybrid War since March 2013. USA "Hearts & Minds" conditioned to join Donald Trump mockery / not resist ...

www.theguardian.com /business/2025/may/12/americans-economy-trump-poll

105 comments

Can you imagine how many babies they'd get if labor and delivery were free? How many parents would return to the work force if child care were free (or affordable)? It's cheaper for republicans to trap people in poverty.

Republicans: We want Americans to have more babies!
The science on how to make more babies: Stop electing Republicans!

Leave it up to dumbfuck conservatives to kill a recovering economy. An economy that was recovering from COVID better than most, if not all, other nation's economies.
Can we just let these braindead scumfucks run their own red states into the ground and cannibalize each other? I'm tired of supporting these fucking losers.

Yeah personally I just don't have any interest in living in a Nazi society, is that weird? My upbringing taught me that a Nazi society is antithetical to life and so far that has been 100% true, is that weird? Should anyone want to be a Nazi?
- Poor uneducated people are disenfranchised within our current form of government. Instead of fighting their oppressors, they surprisingly give up more of their power to those oppressors. They do this willingly and enthusiastically to join the in-group on the surface level while reaping none of the benefits. In fact it will cost much of Trump's base severely.
  
  At this point, with all the evidence pointing to our society being cataclysmically stupid, I'm assuming we're going to watch our nation decline for the rest of our lives. So I have to find joy in watching dipshit Trump supporters suffer harder than most. I have to grasp at the little tidbits of joy when I can.
- If you see it on the view of the Nazis they think they are the ones who have been persecuted for having to obstain from saying the ‘n’ word as so much worse a tragedy they've had to endure all these decades.
  If you’re considered weird to that mentality; I’d take it as a compliment.
  
  Yeah it's very much like that thing, "I've seen what makes you cheer, your boos mean nothing to me"
  Now, what I do want to say is this: having spent my career surrounded by blue-collar men, there are about 1/3 of them that are the actual ringleaders for fascism. Whatever their camp is. Of the remaining 2/3, I would say half on a good day are still tolerable people. Misled, narrow-minded, problematic, check check check. But tolerable. And capable of being spoken to.
  Union organizers know what I'm talking about. You've gotta divide the workers into camps you can get to, and camps you'll never get to. It's part of the process, I've read the books.
  Now, those guys. They deserve to have the right people talking to them. It's not their fault the education system failed them. The media lies to them. That bullies seem to win everywhere they look.
  But for me, rn at this point in my career, fuck em. I'm done. I've tried. Over and over again. Fights, had em. I work for myself now and the less I talk to other electricians IRL the better. They can all suck a big fat one.
  :deep sigh:
  Eventually, my position may change.
- As a boomer whose parents (both) were in world war 2, I listened to what the horrors that were perpetrated by the fascists and axis on the daily until I was a teen. I saw shows, testimonials and documentaries that all disappeared in the late 70’s and replaced with tamer stuff. I would rather die than live in a fascist regime.

I'm an elder millennial. I feel like my life has spent more time on hold than otherwise. Economic crisis, plague, not-really-a-war-but-war, more economic crisis, watered down dictator. . .
Can I just die already?
- Older millennial here.
  Within my group of friends, none of us had career jobs or the semblance of stability until well into our 30s. Some of us are just now starting to have kids as we're turning 40. Probably less than half though. We're half and half on home ownership.
  The propaganda we grew up with was intense. I'm not pretending the U.S. is the worst country to live in, but the reality is it really isn't that great. We're being abused by our system despite working our asses off for it.
- Gen X, here. Feel the same. Move forward two steps, stop. Back up one, stop. Take three forward, take 4 back. Move up one. Etc. X got lucky with cheaper college and sometimes you could find affordable homes, but damn. It feels like treading water and maybe occasionally swallowing some since forever.
- It's like our lives are written like a book about Russian history where every chapter ends with "... and then it got worse".
- Can I just die already?
  I feel this. I also used to believe in and not mind the idea of reincarnation, but Jesus Christ would I hate to come back. I didn't procreate because I know there's nothing good on the horizon for future generations. It's become a nightmare to think I may ever have to come back again.
- No you can’t die! We need more hard workers in the workforce! How else will your boss and bosses boss afford that extra house, car, and vacation time?
  
  If you need hard workers, I am not your man.
  
  Millennials are also the first generation to really lean into child free lifestyles too, usually out of necessity not because we hate babies. We got fucked and had the audacity to throw a wrench in the machine of not following orders and being clones of our parents
- "A crisis is coming!"
  Well I've been in crisis since I got laid off at Christmas so everyone, welcome to the show.
  Before that I've been trying to come out of my crises since Covid fucked my life up, still not fixed that.
  And then going back, my life is still hugely derailed from the past 2.5 decades of crises, macro and micro.
  So yeah it's just more of the same over here.
  
  I've been trying to get back to the life I had before it blew up in 2008. My 26 year old son says that the Bush Economic Crash of 2008 looms large in the lives of his friends. Many in his generation had their entire lives thrown into chaos in the middle of their childhoods, giving them a wired in sense of foreboding toward their future. They know that no matter how good your life is, the government can destroy your life with mindless policies designed to benefit a tiny few elites, at the expense of everyone else.
  No wonder that so many young people are thinking that Socialism/ Marxism/ Communism sounds like a reasonable alternative to whatever arbitrary system we have now.
- Try voting Republicans out.
  I keep waiting for everyone to catch up. The solution isn't hard. 🤷‍♂️
  
  I do my best every two years or so. It's like trying to put out the sun with a mouthful of water in this state.
  
  Do you think anyone here has been voting Republican?
  
  someone posts about basically being suicidal
  HMMM TRY DOING THIS THING THAT HASN'T WORKED AND YOU PROBABLY DID ALREADY! HMMM HMMM I'M SMARTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE, IT'S LIKE, DUH, THAT'S THE SOLUTION HA HA EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD CATCH UP HA HA I DON'T CARE THAT YOU'RE IN SO MUCH DESPAIR YOU WANT TO DIE, MY SOLUTION ISN'T VERY HARD🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

The entire country is suffering from narcissistic abuse Sure some are enabling it but we’re all suffering

Trump is the new covid?
- Side effects include: Diarrhea of the mouth Puckered eyes Orangification Everything computer
  
  Cure: Inject bleach
- Trump was the original COVID too
- I was really hoping it was all gonna blow over by Easter, too.
- Yes, he also kind of made a mess of that.
  He's certainly a pestilence. We have over a thousand cases of smallpox in the US right now, and it's growing rapidly.
  
  I think you mean measles? I don’t think smallpox has made a comeback yet (it was globally declared eradicated in the 80s)

Oh how the time doesn't fly. This will be the longest four years ever with the question lingering, will we even be allowed out? Will there be enough leftover to rebuild from? Will we learn the right lessons before its too late? 2042 isnt far off :/
- Rebuilding could take 10 to 20 years. If he's shit enough it could take two to six.
  If he does Herbert Hoover levels of damage there's likely to be broad motivation to take heavy handed action to fix it. Re-nationalizing land, nullifying contracts, and disregarding the impact it has on those who invested money or otherwise relied on the changes. Some of the programs being torn apart today are direct responses to trying to fix the problems Hoover caused.
  It's not a lot, but it's worth remembering that Hoover had a lot of similar stances to Trump. He made things so bad that America elected the closest thing we've ever had to democratic socialism, and people liked it so much that they elected him four times and Congress changed the Constitution out of spite.
  
  It could take decades longer than even that. America has experienced mind-boggling collapse in just 4 months. The damage to its reputation will take an entire restructuring of the powers of the executive branch to overcome. I mean, who wants to make a deal with an admin, when every 4 years it can go back on its word?
  We still have at least 43 more months to look forward to. The bottom hasn't even begun to drop.
- Four years? That's might optimistic. Trump's already planning for a third term. He's not leaving the oval office alive.
  Meanwhile the little "color in the thermometer" progress chart on the back of the Project 2025 workbook is nearly half filled.
  
  Theres always the chance that the US Balkanizes or the feds become otherwise irrelevant because of cascade failures. Remember the US has about a dozen empire destroying issues in the oven and Trump not only turned up the heat but threw in like 12 more.

This is a weird connection to make, but since this started happening, my wife and I have been unintentionally saving money.
I don’t think we’re doing it ‘on purpose’, but instead of the usual stream of random frivolity, we’re just sort of trimming back, and as a result, find ourselves with extra money to transfer to savings when we look at our accounts.
I think we’re both just trying to be ready, should we need extra resources for whatever reason.
- Im Canadian and avoiding American products has saved me a lot of money, so much junk food we don’t need is American, and the off brand Canadian versions are even better and cheap. I never realized how much of my money went to American junk until this tariff thing, so I’ve stopped buying anything i don’t NEED
- Yeah same, we're saving because we dont know if shit could just hit the fan. I'm actually in the process of converting 50% of my savings into foreign currency. The US is finally on its way out
  
  That's a surefire way into a depression. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming any individual for behaving like that. It's the reasonable thing to do. But for an administration to fuck up that badly in such a short timeframe is just unbelievable.
  
  What currency are you going for?

It’s like a family death. You’re in trauma for a year and have to put off any major life decisions because of brain fog and anxiety.
Trump doesnt get what that impact does doesnt do anything for business and is unsustainable.
Then again he did bankrupt a bunch of casinos so it’s really on the public for voting him full well knowing he’s a convicted criminal and liar.
- Even if the economy recovers and we don't enter a "recession" none of the other Millennials I know are ever gonna be able to trust the federal government again. In my experience, as a demographic, we tended to lean LibLeft anyway, or at least those of us with IQs and test scores to stay out of remedial classes do. There are exceptions - we all know that guy, and it's always a guy. But still.
  ...
  Sorry I had more but I got distracted by the sounds of birds in my yard and, well 🤷‍♂️

Would he just have a coronary already.

My life has never been off of hold...
Would be nice if the job I trained the better part of a decade for paid more than living expenses.
Ever generation has less than 1/2 of the wealth as the previous, eventually we are just slaves

These polls are misleading. 4 in 10 Americans have always supported Trump regardless of what he does. That hasn't changed.
Maybe it's significant that he's lost support from the other 2 in 10 who voted for him, but if they seriously thought that he was the best candidate during the 2024 election, then their opinions aren't based on critical thinking either.
- 4 in 10 who actually vote. Trump only ever won ~30% of the popular vote when you count all of the people who couldn’t bother to get off the couch. If “Didn’t Vote” was a candidate, it would have won by a landslide.
  
  Didn't vote means one of at least three things:
  "I think the candidate i support will win anyways."
  "I don't care who wins, i will be fine with any of the likely possible candidates."
  "I don't feel represented by anyone but i feel powerless to get someone on the ballot who represents me."
  Unless specifically polling non voters about the reason why they didn't vote we can't really tell.
  
  Also, of people who voted he only got 49.9%
  Hardly "6/10"
  
  When do you expect the 1/3rd of the country that has never voted to magically show up to vote?
  
  You guys keep bringing this up as if the day when those non-voters start voting for Democrats is right around the corner. The percentage of people who don't vote hasn't changed much in 100 years. Quit wasting words on people who will never matter in this context.
- It's not 4/10.
  Most Americans simply did not bother to vote. Trumpers are a minority, it's just that their hatefulness is artificially amplified by Russian bots.

I've been doing this my whole life.

I am reconsidering by thinking of moving out of the country lmao

So we just gonna die now, I guess?

It's a Harris poll so it's obviously financed by the woke globalist transdimensional space vampires. Wake up sheeple!
- Space vampires ate muh eggz.
  
  Where's the Trump poll? Conservative voices are being silenced!

My family desperately needs a bigger house or an addition but I have no idea if I will ever be able to afford another loan.

Indeed, all of our big ticket items are on hold.

Fuck our parents and grandparents. They should be lining up to throw themselves off a cliff for this rat turd.

having children
Not having children produces a long-term negative economic impact on the country, as the economic potential is tied to the size of the labor force.
- Having children ensures a human must suffer through the worsening climate crisis.
- Try telling that to the idiotic ruling class. ¯(ツ)/¯

105 comments