Six-Chart Sunday – Why Are Americans So Anxious?

Stock markets are booming (24 new record highs so-far in 2026), and 62% of U.S. households own stocks. Home values have never been higher, with the home-ownership rate at 65%. We haven’t faced a real recession in 17 years, and the unemployment sits at a mere 4.3%. U.S. life expectancy hit a record high, crime a record low. Optimism should be through the roof.

And yet…

Consumer sentiment is at its lowest point in 75 years. 59% of Americans say our country’s best years are behind us, 60% see us on the wrong track and just 21% are satisfied with the ways things are going. “Nearly 70% believe the American dream—that if you work hard, you will get ahead—no longer holds true or never did, the highest level in nearly 15 years of WSJ surveys.”

What gives? Why are Americans so anxious right now?

The 21st century has been one damn thing after another — national security crises (9/11, “forever wars”, global pandemic), economic crises (dot com crash, Great Recession; inflation spikes), and societal crises (COVID closures, school shootings, police violence, open borders). And Americans have never had more immediate, inescapable, non-stop access to “breaking” news, streaming video, unintentional misinformation & purposeful disinformation making each crisis feel personal & overwhelming.

In panic disorder, the brain is constantly flooded with adrenaline generating a fight-or-flight impulse that’s unceasing & debilitating. Modern American politics suffers from the same. Fundraising texts are apocalyptic, campaign ads existential. Every election is “the most important of our lifetime,” the other party “downright evil” and a threat to “destroy America.” Politicians and party operatives do it because it works... Manichaean messaging drives voter engagement. But it also craters trust in government, leaves voters anxious & exhausted and undermines elected officials’ subsequent capacity to compromise & govern. How bad has it become? A 2024 poll found 60% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans would be unhappy if their son or daughter married someone voting for the other party’s candidate.

Americans faced the highest inflation in 40 years in 2022, and it remains a top concern for families as it rises again in 2026. Inflation erodes purchasing power and budgets, leaving households feeling powerless and deeply insecure about their future. Real (after-inflation) wages have fallen over the past 5 years, in contrast to the past 10 years or prior quarter-century (Pew).

The rising tide of American growth has not lifted all boats evenly. Even those with rising home values & healthy 401ks feel anxious that they’re falling behind too many others. “The share of total wealth held by the richest Americans is now at the highest level since World War II.” (Bloomberg)

Wealth inequality is on the rise after leveling off for several years in the late 2010s and early 2020s. The main driver of the recent surge is three consecutive years of significant stock market gains.

The top 1% of households controlled 31.7% of the nation’s wealth… $55 trillion, nearly as much as the bottom 90% combined. The top 0.1% boosted their wealth 40% in three years, twice the 20% gain of the bottom 90%.

Americans are inundated with daily headlines suggesting AI may soon cause mass unemployment, cyber Pearl Harbors, undetectable fraud, uncontrollable disinformation, societal collapse. Not surprisingly, this makes people anxious! Per Pew Research:

Half of U.S. adults say the increased use of AI in daily life makes them feel more concerned than excited, while just 10% are more excited than concerned.

More Americans are concerned today than they were when we first asked this question in 2021, when only 37% said they were more concerned than excited.

Concern is lower in many of the 24 other countries we’ve polled about AI

The media is a business. To survive they need consumers to watch, click, share & engage. That favors content provoking outrage, anger and/or fear, which gives the audience a disproportionate sense of risk and reality (e.g. chart below). Social media significantly amplifies the most angst-inducing content.

We celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary from a position of profound economic, military and technological strength — and epically-high anxiety. Ours is an uneasy peace and uneven prosperity. Our information loops are optimized for outrage. There are of course answers to address Americans’ concerns — policies enabling more robust and inclusive growth, more objective media, less hysterical politicking — but identifying and implementing them will require a level of political will and leadership not yet in evidence.

Peggy Noonan at her very best this week on “‘Rocky’ and the Love of America.” Read it! She writes about this week’s video clip — the ending to one of the greatest and most American movies of all time — correctly declaring: “if you aren’t moved by it, there is something wrong and you must investigate your sodden heart.”