Poll indicates low trust, poor public perception of the Fed
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Disjointed results for the wealthy and working classes since the pandemic hit the U.S. have fostered an environment in which most Americans don't trust the Federal Reserve, or think that the central bank is doing a good job.
Driving the news: New polling from Ipsos exclusively for Axios shows that 53% of Americans say they don't trust the central bank, and just 38% say the Fed has done a "good" or "excellent" job, while 58% say the Fed is doing a "fair" or "poor" job.
- The percentage of respondents who say the Fed is doing poorly (13%) is more than triple the share who say it's doing an excellent job (4%).
- Similarly, the share who say they have no trust at all in the Fed (15%) is triple the share who say they have a great deal of trust (5%).
Why it matters: Some market participants argue that most ordinary people have no idea what the Fed does, but 60% of poll respondents said they know at least "a little" about how the Fed operates, compared to 38% who say they know "not a lot" or "nothing."
- The Fed gets its charter from Congress, which is at the mercy of voters. If voters think the Fed is hurting rather than helping, they can direct their representatives accordingly.
