For a years, partisanship has reached the core of how Americans interpret economic signals. While anxiety over inflation can be flat or unchanging on a nationwide basis, breaking it down by party affiliation reveals a stark narrative of how people internalize and project price changes. From early 2002 through the end of 2024, Republicans were much more concerned about inflation than Democrats. Then, in a shocking (not shocking) turn of events in late January of 2025 Republican concern over inflation dropped precipitously, while Democratic concern jumped by a near equal amount. Data from our latest Consumer Trendwatch makes it clear: financial strain in 2025 is as much about identity and narrative as it is about financial data.

Interestingly concerns over a recession has been relatively steady over the last few years, and while there is a difference based on partisanship, it is minimal. Further, there was no meaningful change when control of the White House changed. One theory on why this is the case is that most politicians do not like using the “R” word and therefore is not part of the partisan messaging machine. Inflation, however, has been front and center in our political discourse for three years running. 

Here are the key takeaways from this week’s chart:

• 🐴🐘There are Still Partisan Differences: While the word “inflation” has triggered a significant partisan divide in responses over the past few years, “recession” has less of a political effect. Republicans and Independents continue to be more likely to rate their concern over a recession higher than Democrats, although at a lesser rate compared to concerns about inflation.
• 📉The Partisan Gap May Be Closing: The partisan gap in responses to recession fears has been mostly shrinking over the past year. In April of 2024, Republicans’ concern stood at 64 points and Democrats at 56, an 8-point difference. This gap has narrowed to 4 points as of April 2025.
• 🏦Inflation Has Taken On a Political Meaning: The smaller spread likely points to a lack of politicization of the word “recession,” a topic most politicians avoid like the plague, as compared to “inflation,” which was a big focus of the 2024 cycle.