Just 27% of voters say businesses in their area are hiring, while 33% say they are laying workers off. The number saying businesses are hiring is up 1 point from August, but the number saying companies are laying workers off is up 4 points.

In 2024, approaching the end of Biden's time in office, ratings were nearly identical: 27% said businesses were hiring, and 30% said they were laying off.

Additionally, just 41% of voters say it is now a good time to look for a job. That is down 8 points from a July of 2025 and a massive 24 points from September of 2024. Forty-five percent (45%) of voters say it is a bad time to look for a job, up 7 points from July of 2025 and 22 points from September of 2024.

About two thirds (63%) of voters say it is at least somewhat difficult for someone who is laid off to find a good job, while 26% disagree. Those numbers are largely unchanged since March of 2025. Again, in September of 2024, those numbers were much more positive: 45% of voters said it was at least somewhat difficult to find a good job, and 45% disagreed.

Voter Economic Optimism Increased Under Trump - At First

Still, despite the drastic splits, voters overwhelmingly believed their personal finances were in bad shape under Biden. Optimism began to improve immediately upon Trump's election, even hitting significant high-water marks. But from there, optimism continued to tread water before taking a nosedive with the beginning of the Iran War.

This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, October 26-27, 2026. RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.