The survey suggests an ongoing vulnerability for Trump, who returned to the White House in January with claims he could quickly tame inflation.

A recent poll conducted by the Associated Press shows that Americans are increasingly anxious about the state of the economy, particularly regarding job opportunities and inflation. Nearly half of respondents expressed little or no confidence in their ability to find a good job if needed, a notable rise compared to previous years.

While most people report that their finances have remained steady, few feel they are making financial progress. Rising costs for essentials such as groceries, electricity, housing, health care, and gas are cited as major stressors. The poll also indicates a disconnect between positive macroeconomic indicators, such as stock market performance, and the everyday financial realities faced by many Americans. This sentiment persists amid ongoing political debates and policy changes affecting the economy.

Americans growing anxious about jobs and inflation, new poll shows

New polling from the Associated Press reveals a deepening unease among Americans about the economy and job prospects. Meanwhile, most people report their finances are holding steady, although very few feel like they're getting ahead. Business and tech correspondent Maura Barrett dug through the results of this poll and joins us now from Denver. And Maura, if you would, walk us through the results. What are the biggest drivers behind this growing lack of confidence in really finding a good job? Well, Holly, these poll results really just show the real feel sentiment of the economic factors that we've been analyzing over the last several months. The biggest headline is looking at the 47 percent of Americans who say that they are quote not very or not at all confident they could find a good job if they wanted to. The last time this question was asked was back in 2023 and was 10 points lower. And so that just shows kind of the increase in anxiety that we're seeing from job seekers and not necessarily unemployed job seekers. Right. But someone who might want to be bouncing and growing in their role. And that's part of who they're of who is saying that they don't feel confident about being able to find those opportunities. The other part of it, obviously, as we've been talking about inflation, is the fact that even if salaries are going up, wage gains are going up, the real translation to what you're actually paying for things doesn't directly translate. It's been essentially flat. And so that's something that can contribute to the sense that new jobs aren't necessarily good jobs. And because people aren't feeling like they're making that much more money, these types of bills that you're seeing on your screen are what people are quantifying as major financial stressors, groceries and electricity bills, giving the most anxiety to people, according to this poll. There's electric bills going up across the country. I asked the Department of Energy secretary a few weeks ago about this directly, given the increase we've seen when it comes to to data centers and usage on the grid when it comes to A.I. production. And he effectively blamed the Democrats because they're canceling the Department of Energy is canceling a lot of the former President Biden's renewable energy contracts. And he's saying that that set them back in terms of being able to supplement the electric grid for what people are going to need going forward. And that's why prices are high, obviously, other significant pushback in that sense right now, given that there are ways to protect the grid. But the other elements that people are anxious about is housing costs, health care, as well as gas prices. And so all of that is a direct reflection of all of the changes, the policy initiatives that we've been covering for the last several months, Holly. And on the campaign trail, President Trump, he promised to bring back better jobs and revive the American economy. But what we're seeing here reflects a pretty different outcome. So how did we get to this point? I think this situation perfectly exemplifies the difference between the macroeconomics and the micro, right? The campaign rhetoric often focuses on the macro, what the stock market looks like, what your 401k is performing at. And it has been doing pretty well in that sense. We've seen record highs in the last couple of weeks. There's been some significant drops as well. But those are the numbers that President Trump is focusing on. But then when you couple it with the layoff reports that we've seen, the lack of hiring, as well as the increased prices, a lot of businesses having to pass on President Trump's tariff costs onto their consumers, people are looking at their wallet and saying, I have less money to spend. And that is how the American people generally reflect how they're making their assessments of the economy, not necessarily looking at the bigger picture numbers the way the president is. And so that's something that definitely should be signaling a warning sign to Republicans considering they had promised this economic boom. And all of this coming out amidst the government shutdown, obviously, as well, in tandem with the high inflation and hiring freezes that I mentioned. And so the overall consumer sentiment that we've been tracking over the last several months continues to decline. So all of these factors create that formula that creates this uncertainty. And so, again, consumers, voters, the average person really needs to hear from their politicians what their pocketbook, what their wallet is going to look like rather than the larger GDP headlines. And we're not seeing Republicans change their messaging on that. All right. Scripps News business and tech correspondent Maura Barrett live for us. Thank you for that interesting update. Thank you.

Amazon.com cloud service returned to normal operations on Monday (October 20) afternoon, the company said, after an internet outage that caused global turmoil among thousands of sites.

Amazon says AWS cloud service back to normal after outage

Japan's parliament has elected the country's first female leader. Sanae Takaichi, 64, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is seen as a hardline conservative who supports traditional gender roles and hawkish foreign policy.

Tokyo

Sanae Takaichi elected Japan's first female prime minister

Three days after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said Ukraine “could still win” its war with Russia, but added, “I don’t think they will,” raising new questions about Washington’s support for Kyiv.

Washington

Trump doubts Ukraine will win war against Russia

Former FBI Director James Comey is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him, claiming the prosecution is vindictive and unlawful.

Ex-FBI director James Comey seeks to toss indictment

An appeals court panel is allowing the White House to federalize and deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.

Portland

Appeals court rules Trump can deploy National Guard to Portland

U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a rare earths and critical minerals agreement aimed at ensuring a steady supply of the materials at a time when China is trying to tighten control over global supply.

Washington County

U.S. and Australia boost rare earths supply with new agreement

A global outage hit Amazon Web Services (AWS), disrupting platforms like Amazon Prime, Fortnite, Alexa, Snapchat, and Duolingo. The issue, caused by increased error rates, took about three hours to mostly resolve.

AWS outage mostly resolved after hours-long global disruption

Centrist Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia's presidential runoff, defeating conservative rival Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, as the country's worst economic crisis in a generation helped propel the end of nearly two decades of leftist rule.

La Paz

Centrist Rodrigo Paz wins Bolivian presidency

After 10 years in prison without charge, a Lebanese judge has ordered the release of Hannibal Gadhafi, son of the late Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi. But it’s on condition that he pays $11 million bail, something his lawyers say they will contest.

Beirut

Lebanon orders Hannibal Gadhafi’s release after 10 years

A cargo aircraft skidded off a Hong Kong runway and collided with a security patrol car before both fell into the sea early Monday, killing the two people in the car, authorities said.

Kowloon

Two killed after cargo plane veers off runway in Hong Kong

Thieves wielding power tools have struck at the famed Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing priceless jewels in a brazen heist that took just four minutes, according to the government. The thieves struck after the museum had already opened its doors to the public, with a major investigation now underway.

Paris

‘Priceless’ jewels stolen from France’s Louvre Museum in four-minute heist

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is ending aid to Colombia after the country’s president, Gustavo Petro, accused the U.S. of ‘murder’ when it struck a small boat within Colombian territorial waters in September.

Bogotá

Trump ending aid to Colombia after 'murder' accusation

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is under pressure, as the Israeli military carries out strikes on southern Gaza and accuses Hamas of opening fire on its forces. Meanwhile, Israel alleges Hamas is stalling on returning the remains of deceased hostages.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Middle East Conflict

Israel, Hamas clash in major test of U.S.-backed ceasefire

The National Guard could soon be on Chicago’s streets after US President Donald Trump took his case to the country’s highest court - the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.  The President says the city is a war zone - and is in the midst of a rebellion, as residents protest his migrant deportation policy.

Chicago

Supreme Court to decide on sending the National Guard to Chicago

China's second-highest ranking general and eight other senior officials have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on suspicion of serious misconduct linked to corruption.

Beijing

China expels nine senior officials from Communist Party

The United States is sending the two survivors of a Thursday (October 18) strike in the Caribbean to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador to be detained and prosecuted, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

U.S. will repatriate survivors of Caribbean strike, Trump says

The two sides have agreed to hold follow-up talks in Qatar to establish conditions and a framework for lasting peace, bringing an end to a week of deadly cross border skirmishes, which have killed dozens of people.

Doha

Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to immediate ceasefire, Qatar says

France's world-famous Louvre museum in Paris was forced to close on Sunday after thieves broke into Apollo Gallery and stole valuable crown jewels.

Jewels of 'inestimable' value stolen from Louvre in major heist

U.S. President Donald Trump's critics took to the streets Saturday, with millions nationwide participating in "No Kings" rallies, protesting Trump's demonstrations of power.

Anti-Trump "No Kings" protests held across U.S.

The Trump administration is awaiting word from the Supreme Court after asking it to allow the immediate deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. A lower court blocked the move.

Tensions rising in Portland, Oregon over immigration tactics

President Trump posted a video of a U.S. military strike on a submersible suspected of smuggling drugs. Two people were killed in the strike but the survivors were brought to a Navy ship. Trump says the U.S. will send the them back to their home countries for prosecution.

Trump says survivors of U.S. drug submersible will be sent home

The U.S. State Department issued a warning that Hamas appeared to be planning an attack 'against Palestinian civilians,' warning that such an attack would 'constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement'.

State Dept. flags ceasefire violation by Hamas

Britain's Prince Andrew said on Friday he would give up using his title of Duke of York following years of criticism about his behavior and connections to the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Windsor

Prince Andrew gives up title of Duke of York

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country's war with Russia, but met an American president who appears more intent on brokering a peace deal than upgrading Kyiv’s arsenal.

Ukraine Invasion

Trump pauses on sending Tomahawks to Ukraine

Tension is rising between the U.S and Venezuela. The latest threats from the US warning of stronger measures against Nicolas Maduro’s government — have sparked both fear and fragile hope across Venezuela.

Caracas

Venezuela on high-alert amid U.S strikes

In the aftermath of a destructive Typhoon Halong, historic floodwaters have destroyed remote communities across western Alaska, forcing hundreds of evacuations that could continue for days.

Kipnuk

Mass evacuations in Alaska after record floodwaters

Mr. Trump seemed open to trading U.S.-made Tomahawk's for Ukrainian-made drones, but then he argued Ukraine might not even need new weapons if he can broker a swift end to the invasion.

Trump says he'd rather broker peace than send Tomahawks to Ukraine

President Trump announced that he has commuted former New York Rep. George Santos' sentence on Friday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

President Trump commutes George Santos' sentence

The head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday (October 16) she is urging the U.S. and China to de-escalate trade tensions, warning that a decoupling between the world's two largest economies could reduce global economic output by 7% over the longer-term.

WTO urges U.S., China to ease trade war or risk global growth

John Bolton pleaded not guilty at a Maryland federal court on Friday (October 17). This comes after the former Trump administration national security adviser was indicted on 18 counts for his alleged mishandling of classified information.

Breakdown