8 in 10 say 2023 will be year of economic difficulty: Gallup

Eight in 10 U.S. adults believe that 2023 will be a year of economic difficulty with higher taxes and a growing budget deficit, according to a new poll. 

The Gallup poll released Tuesday found that 79 percent of respondents believe the year will be economically difficult, while only 21 percent believe it will be a year of economic prosperity. More than 80 percent expect higher taxes and 65 percent believe prices will rise at a high rate. 

Just more than half said they expect unemployment will rise, but 46 percent said they believe 2023 will be a year of full or rising employment. 

Pollsters found across the board that Democrats were more optimistic about the future than Republicans, which Gallup said is a typical phenomenon based on the party of the sitting president. 

Almost 70 percent of Democrats expect full or rising employment, while only 23 percent of Republicans do. More than half of Democrats expect the stock market to rise and prices to rise at a reasonable rate, but less than 20 percent of Republicans said the same. 

Gallup’s analysis states that Americans are greeting 2023 with skepticism and not much expectation that the economic problems they faced last year will end this year. 

The results of the poll come as high inflation has shown some signs of alleviating but still has a long way to go. The Federal Reserve has aggressively raised interest rates over the months to try to get inflation back to 2 percent. 

The annual inflation rate dropped to 7.1 percent in November but remained near 40-year highs. 

Some economists have expressed concerns about rising interest rates causing an economic slowdown, but the economy has shown some resilience as the number of jobs has continued to increase. 

Still, numerous economic experts have said they expect at least a mild recession in 2023. 

The Gallup poll was conducted Dec. 5-19 among 1,803 U.S. adults. The margin of error is 3 points.