Americans put life in the waiting loop in the middle of economic fear under Trump, and survey shows | US economy

The Americans rethink important life events, including marriage, children who buy a house in the opening months of the Trump presidency, according to an exclusive survey for the guardian.

Six out of ten Americans stated that, according to Harri's survey, the economy had at least one of its most important life goals, although either lack of affordability or fear in the current economy was listed.

Although Donald Trump's tariff policy has only been available for a few weeks and the president has temporarily declined some of his toughest guidelines, the results are a sign that Trump's economic agenda could have long -term effects.

The Trump administration said that it wanted to encourage the Americans to get more babies, and there is a “baby bonus of 5,000 US dollars for new mothers. But its economic policy seems to be an important stumbling block for this ambition. Of those who originally wanted a child in 2025, said a majority that the current economy has affected its plans in any way by either not affording can have a child (32%) or feel uncomfortable if you have one in the current economy (33%).

In large percentages of the respondents, they wanted to make a big financial decision: 45% said they wanted to make a big purchase – for example a car or equipment – and 42% stated to buy a house.

But 75% of those who said they wanted to buy a house, said that the current economy derailed them.

The purchase of a house has long been seen as a benchmark for the American dream, but became more and more unaffordable for many Americans.

Real estate prices came up after a frenzy of buying during the pandemic when the interest rates were zero and have not dropped since then. Although the mortgage interest rates have decreased slightly since their recent top value of around 7.5%, the average 30-year mortgage was 6.7% more than twice what it was four years ago.

Economic fear has a disproportionate effect on the long -term goals of younger Americans who are less likely to have a home, are married or have children. For example, a majority of tenants of Gen Z and Millennials (68%) said that they had the goal of buying a house compared to only 29% of the older tenants.

Much of the instability seems to come from the increasing cost of living: 65% of the Americans stated that the cost of living has deteriorated since the beginning of the year, and half said it made it more difficult to pay their living expenses.

A vast majority (78%) stated that they have increased food prices in recent months, while 60% gave that they also became monthly invoices and everyday basics.

Although almost half (48%) of the Republicans stated that the cost of living has increased this year, the Republicans seem to be more optimistic about the overall condition of the economy, especially in comparison to Joe Biden in the White House.

When the respondents were asked last May whether they thought that the United States was experiencing a recession, 67% of Republicans stated that the country was in a recession. Almost a year later, the number has dropped to 40% of Republicans.

On the other hand, 49% of Democrats believed in a recession last May, compared to 59% that the United States now believed in a recession. The United States is not in a recession and have not been during Covid pandemic since February to April 2020.

It may be best for Trump that only 33% of the Republicans believe that the US economy deteriorates, but 64% of the independent believes that it gets worse, more in harmony with Democrats (73%). More independent believes that the economy in May (53%) was in a recession compared to this April (46%), although the opinion switch is much smaller than for Republicans.

Although Trump said that his tariffs “make America wealthy again”, only a few Americans seem to believe him.

The tariffs have enforced the tariffs in a list of things, of which the Americans believe that they will most likely be financially violating in 2025. Almost a third (29%) of the respondents, including 39% of the Democrats, 28% of the independent and 21% of Republicans, said that the tariffs will cause the most damage. Over 20% stated that government policy will be most harmful, including 24% of the independent.

• This survey was carried out online in the USA online by the Harris survey from April 24 to 26, 2025 under a nationally representative sample of 2,102 US -growing people.