The latest Napolitan News survey finds that 29% of voters say their personal finances are getting better, up 5 points down from 2 weeks ago but just 1 from a month ago. Meanwhile, 37% say they are getting worse. That is down 8 points two weeks ago and down a single point from a month ago.
Those totals include just 10% who say their finances are getting Much Better, while 15% say they are getting Much Worse.
Currently, 40% of Main Street voters* report worsening personal finances. That is down 9 points from 2 weeks ago and 6 from a month ago. Still, Just 23% say they are getting better, up 3 from 2 weeks ago but identical to a month ago.
Two weeks ago, voters were the most pessimistic they've been about personal finances since October 28, 2024. That was the last economic survey run by Napolitan News before President Trump was elected in November of that year. These numbers are better, but still far too similar to numbers under Biden for the GOP's liking. In fact, Napolitan Institute founder Scott Rasmussen recently said that "The reason we're in the political environment we're in today is because people are just as pessimistic about their personal finances today as they were on the eve of election 2024."
The Iran Impact
Shortly before the war with Iran, optimism on personal finances was near its highest in 5 years. With the onset of war came numbers that rivaled the pessimism of when Joe Biden was in office. After the initial shock, voters spent much of the year somewhere in between in the two extremes. Two weeks ago marked a new high in pessimism, which receeded somewhat this week.
The Summary
As Scott Rasmussen has repeatedly insisted, how voters feel about the direction of their personal finances is the biggest single factor in any election. So, it is no surprise to find that the already-positive midterm environment for Democrats in the House continues to drift towards the left.
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.
Elite voters are defined as those with a postgraduate degree, make more than $150,000 annually, and live in a densely populated urban area. Elite Adjacent voters have at least one of these characteristics. Main Street voters have none of these characteristics, and make up the largest portion of voters.
