WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the novel coronavirus outbreak has shut down much of the U.S. economy, a majority of Americans believe the country is in either an economic recession (37%) or a depression (21%). Most of the rest, 39%, believe the economy is "slowing down," while just 3% think it is growing.
Last week, Gallup reported on the increasing expectation that the U.S. economy would enter a recession. In this new question, first asked on March 24, a majority already believe the U.S. is in a recession, if not a depression. These attitudes have been steady over the past week. The figures reported here are based on March 27-29 interviewing.
Americans' perceptions of the economy are largely influenced by their party identification. Most Republicans, 61%, believe the economy is slowing down, rather than being in an economic recession (20%) or a depression (11%).
By contrast, more than three-fourths of Democrats believe the country is in a recession (49%) or depression (28%), as do 61% of independents.
| Republicans | Independents | Democrats | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Growing | 8 | 2 | <1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Slowing down | 61 | 37 | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In a recession | 20 | 39 | 49 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In an economic depression | 11 | 22 | 28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gallup Panel, March 27-29, 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works.
