30th July 2024

You Gov: Economic optimism has risen since the election

The economy and the cost of living has been the dominant issue in the public consciousness for two-and-a-half years now, with it playing a key role Labour winning the election. Many voters – particularly those that switched to Labour – say that addressing the cost of living should be one of the main priorities for the new government.

This is hardly surprising – only one in ten Britons (10%) currently believe that the economy is in a good state, with nearly two-thirds (64%) thinking it is in a bad state, including one in six (17%) viewing ‘very bad’ as the most apt description. Only one in five Britons (21%) say they have both been able to maintain their pre-cost-of-living crisis spending levels and will continue to be able to do so, compared to 55% who say they have had to make cuts and 18% who say they expect to.

The public’s optimism on the economy could, though, be about to turn a corner. While there has not exactly been a surge in optimism, 27% say they expect the economy to improve over the next year and 29% expecting it worsen. This represents the strongest net economic optimism score (-2) in the last two years and a clear improvement on the net score of -16 shortly before the election, when only 19% expected the economy to get better and 35% anticipated a worsening situation in the year ahead.

Read more

Business Development