In this week's Economist / YouGov Poll:

Plus polling on the firing of Kristi Noem, the economy, government spending, and more. Including:

  • Majorities of Americans say spending should be increased on veterans (74%), Social Security (68%), Medicare (66%), aid to the poor (61%), and Medicaid (60%), while more favor increasing than decreasing spending on the environment (51% vs. 18%), colleges and universities (40% vs. 27%), and national defense (36% vs. 24%)
    • The only two of the 10 spending areas asked about that Americans are more likely to want to decrease funding for are foreign aid (24% would increase and 42% would decrease) and ICE (27% vs. 45%)
  • 57% of Americans expect prices to be higher 12 months from now, while 21% think they'll be about the same and 11% think they'll be lower
  • Majorities of Americans say prices of key items have gone up in the last year:
    • Food: 53% say up a lot / 26% say up a little
    • Housing costs: 43% / 27%
    • Cars: 38% / 23%
    • Gas: 35% / 35%
  • 14% of Americans think children growing up in the U.S. today will be better off financially than their parents, while 21% think they'll be about the same and 45% think they'll be worse off
  • 55% of Americans approve of President Trump firing Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security. Only 15% disapprove
    • Majorities of Democrats (64%) and Republicans (54%) approve of the firing

See the toplines and crosstabs for the March 6 - 9, 2026 Economist/YouGov Poll

Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,563 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, geographic region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3.5%.

Image: Getty (Roberto Schmidt / Stringer)

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