In this week’s Economist/YouGov poll:

Plus polling on prices, Social Security, and U.S. standing in the world. Including:

  • Majorities of Americans believe that prices of gas (92%), groceries (87%), and housing (75%) are increasing a lot or a little where they live. 3% or fewer say prices of each of these things are going down
  • Two-thirds (67%) of Americans think Social Security benefits should be increased. Only 2% think they should be decreased and 19% say they should be kept the same
  • Americans are twice as likely to say that most Social Security recipients pay more than they receive in benefits as to say they receive more in benefits than they pay (34% vs. 18%)

See the toplines and crosstabs for the May 15 - 18, 2026 Economist/YouGov Poll

Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,549 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 3.3%.

Image: Getty (Kevin Dietsch / Staff)

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