Voters remain deeply concerned about the state of America’s finances and are more pessimistic that leaders will address the national debt as the New Year gets underway. The January U.S. Fiscal Confidence Index is 50 (100 is neutral), reflecting strong bipartisan sentiment among American voters about the need to address our unsustainable national debt.  

In the latest monthly survey commissioned by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, 81% of voters believe lawmakers should spend more time addressing the debt, with 77% agreeing that reducing the debt should be a top-three priority — including 72% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 87% of Republicans. Strong majorities agree that lawmakers are on the wrong track when it comes to addressing the debt (57%) and that the problem will worsen (60%). For the first time since September, a majority of voters (52%) are now pessimistic leaders will make progress on the debt in the short term.

“The national debt is growing faster than ever, and voters understand that this is a major problem for America’s economic future,” said Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peterson Foundation. “As our nation races towards $40 trillion in debt, this new survey shows widespread agreement across party lines that lawmakers should pursue solutions to stabilize the debt and put our country — and economy — on a stronger, more sustainable path.”

The Fiscal Confidence Index measures public opinion about the national debt by asking six questions in three key areas:

• CONCERN: Level of concern and views about the direction of the national debt.
• PRIORITY: How high a priority addressing the debt should be for elected leaders.
• EXPECTATIONS: Expectations about whether the debt situation will get better or worse in the next few years.  

The survey results from these three areas are weighted equally and averaged to produce the Fiscal Confidence Index value. The Fiscal Confidence Index, like the Consumer Confidence Index, is indexed on a scale of 0 to 200, with a neutral midpoint of 100. A reading above 100 indicates positive sentiment. A reading below 100 indicates negative sentiment.

Fiscal Confidence Index Key Data Points: 

• The January 2026 Fiscal Confidence Index value is 50. (The December 2025 value was 51. The November value was 50.)
• The current Fiscal Confidence Index score for CONCERN about the debt is 47, indicating deep concern about the debt. The score for debt as a PRIORITY that leaders must address is 26, indicating that Americans want elected leaders to make addressing long-term debt a high priority. The score for EXPECTATIONS about progress on the debt is 76. The Fiscal Confidence Index is the average of these three sub-category scores.

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation commissioned this poll by Democratic firm Global Strategy Group and Republican firm North Star Opinion Research. The online poll surveyed 1,010 registered voters nationwide between January 20 and January 21, 2026. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

Detailed results can be found online at www.pgpf.org/FiscalConfidenceIndex.