Unhappy With Fed, Worried About Economy, 70% Of Voters Say Interest Rates Are Too High: I&I/TIPP Poll Terry Jones
If Americans were asked to vote right now on whether the Federal Reserve should continue existing, the central bank might have a tough time staying in business. Why? Voters overwhelmingly think interest rates and prices are too high and that the Fed is not doing enough to bring them down, as the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.
There’s no question that average Americans are keenly awaiting a cut in interest rates. And that anticipation no doubt grew last Friday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a meager 22,000 jobs created in August, with unemployment hitting 4.3%, its highest point since October 2021.
In the latest online national I&I/TIPP Poll, taken from Aug. 27-29, 1,362 adults were asked the following question: “How would you describe the cost of borrowing money these days — for things like credit cards, car loans, or mortgages?”
An overall 70% described interest rates as either “very high” (39%) or “somewhat high” (31%), while a mere 4% described rates as either “very low” (2%) or “somewhat low” (2%). Another 13% said they were “not sure.” The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.9 percentage points.
Regardless of demographic grouping (race, gender, political affiliation, etc.) large majorities in poll called current interest rate levels too high. And markets seem to agree.
“Fed Funds futures were baking in a 90% chance of a quarter-point rate cut at the meeting, and a roughly 10% chance of a heftier half-percentage point cut,” noted Reuters, citing LSEG Data & Analytics numbers on Friday.
The current fed funds interest rate target range, the central bank’s main policy gauge, stands at 4.25%-4.50%. A policy reduction would lead to cuts in a wide range of interest rates, from mortgages and credit cards to loans for autos and home goods.
The Federal Funds Effective Rate has climbed from near zero in 2021 to around 4.3% today, driving up borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards.
I&I/TIPP asked Americans another question related to their economic concerns: “Which worries you more right now?” That question was followed by four possible responses: “Prices are staying too high” (35%), “The economy is slowing and people are losing jobs” (16%), “Both equally” (41%) and “neither/not sure” (8%).
So, yes, Americans are worried. And they’ll be watching the Fed’s next moves with a particularly critical eye on results.
For a third and final question that bears specifically on the Fed’s performance, I&I/TIPP asked: “Do you think the people in charge of setting interest rates are doing a good job, a poor job, or are you unsure?”
Fed policy-makers might take note: Only 27% said Fed officials were doing a “good job,” while a 44% plurality described their performance as a “poor job.” Another 29% were “unsure.”
So. all told, 73% of Americans don’t think the Fed’s doing a good job. Not exactly a vote of confidence in the Fed, which has come under heavy political pressure from President Donald Trump and other Republicans who see political bias in the central bank’s reluctance to cut interest rates.
📊 How the Fed Sets Rates
- Who Votes? 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)
- 7 Governors (when all seats are filled)
- 5 Regional Fed bank presidents (New York is permanent; 4 rotate annually)
- How Often? 8 scheduled meetings per year.
- Decision Rule: Each member has one vote; majority decides.
- Most Recent Vote (July 29–30, 2025):
- 9 voted to hold rates steady at 4.25%–4.50%
- 2 dissented, preferring a quarter-point cut
Unless new inflation data set for release next week show a surprising surge, economists now widely expect the nation’s central bank to cut interest rates at its Sept. 16-17 meeting, or face the wrath of angry consumers.
Indeed, many wonder why the Fed hasn’t already cut interest rates to boost business activity and hiring, and to ease the interest-rate burden on U.S. households. What about inflation? Year-over-year rates of consumer price inflation have declined each month this year from 2024’s levels.
The Fed cut rates aggressively during the Covid lockdowns, responding to pressure from the Democrat-led Congress to keep the domestic economy growing, as federal spending and debt both soared.
Predictably, inflation surged as trillions of dollars of borrowed money and Fed “quantitative easing” kept the economy afloat. The Fed kept interest rates basically just above zero well into 2022, despite a surge in inflation in 2021.
“Is there a risk of inflation? I think there’s a small risk, and I think it’s manageable … To get a sustained high inflation like we had in the 1970s, I absolutely don’t expect that,” former President Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary (and former Fed chief) Janet Yellen said on March 14, 2021.
Unfortunately, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell mistakenly accepted Yellen’s logic.
As a result, 2021’s already-high annual consumer price inflation of 4.7% jumped further in 2022, peaking at 9.1% in June of that year. A panicked Fed responded belatedly to runaway inflation pressures by raising interest rates in 11 consecutive meetings. But the rate hikes were largely offset as Congress spent over $5 trillion during the Covid-era economic lockdowns and after to keep the economy’s engine running.
The Fed finally cut rates in September of 2024, a move that raised eyebrows coming as it did just weeks before the presidential election. It cut again just after the election, and once more in December, but has refrained from lowering rates further during Trump’s time in office.
That’s where we stand today.
Consumers still feel the sting of rate hikes that jacked up interest costs for average Americans even as consumer prices soared 25% during the Covid era. So it’s perhaps not surprising that, as September’s I&I/TIPP Poll clearly shows, many voting-age Americans today feel less than charitable towards the nation’s central bank.
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