More Americans believe inflation is the nation’s most important problem now than at any point since 1985, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday.
Seventeen percent of Americans said rising prices are the country’s most important problem, the survey found. The figure is up from 10 percent in February and 8 percent in January.
In 1985, 18 percent of Americans said inflation was the nation’s most important issue, according to Gallup.
The renewed concern comes as inflation has hit its highest point in 40 years and gas prices have skyrocketed since Russia invaded Ukraine. Four percent of Americans cited fuel prices specifically as the greatest problem in March.
Consumer prices rose 7.9 percent in February from the year prior, the Labor Department announced this month. The increase was the largest since January 1982, which saw an 8.6 percent jump.
Meanwhile, 59 percent of respondents said they worry about cost-of-living expenses a “great deal,” the poll found.
Inflation first began rising as a public concern last fall, according to Gallup. While rising prices registered no more than 2 percent of mentions in 2021, that number jumped in October when 5 percent of Americans cited inflation as the most pressing issue.
A majority of families earning $40,000 or more (63 percent) said they are very concerned about rising costs, while 58 percent of those earning $100,000 or more said the same.
Republicans were much more concerned about inflation, with 79 percent of Republicans expressing serious concern about rising cost-of-living, while just 35 percent of Democrats said the same.
“Inflation doesn’t dominate Americans’ perceptions of the most important problem facing the country today the way it did in the early 1980s, but it’s more top-of-mind than it’s been in over three decades and appears to be taking a toll on Americans’ broader economic confidence,” Gallup said in a news release.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents cited one of several noneconomic issues as the country’s most pressing problem, including 22 percent of Americans who believe the government and poor leadership are the most important problem. Nine percent said the war in Ukraine is the most important problem.
The poll was conducted March 1-18 among 1,017 adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.