Midterm elections sit 70 days out as consumer frustration persists
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 89.4 in August from 90.2 in July, the lowest level in seven months. The reading leaves the index within the same lukewarm range it has occupied since the start of the year, well below the levels consistently above 100 that prevailed in late 2024 and early 2025.
Gasoline prices have remained above $4 per gallon through August, a level the Associated Press attributed to the ongoing conflict in Iran. Write-in responses to the board’s survey, collected from Aug. 3 to Aug. 16, were slightly more pessimistic than July’s. References to prices in general — and oil and gas prices specifically — remained elevated, while comments about war and geopolitics, food prices, trade and jobs all rose from the prior month.
Respondents’ assessments of their present situation improved, while their short-term outlook for the months ahead soured.
The AP report attributed consumer frustration to five years of elevated inflation and said the situation could pose a risk to President Donald Trump and Republicans in the midterm elections, which sit less than 70 days away. The Conference Board release was written by Associated Press business writer Matt Ott.