We’re gonna need more gerrymandering.

The share of American households who described their financial situation as “much worse” versus a year ago was the highest last month since headline inflation sported a nine-handle, the latest installment of The New York Fed’s consumer survey showed.

The results of the May poll, released on Monday, showed more than 13% of families viewed their economic circumstances as having significantly deteriorated compared to May of 2025.

As the figure above shows, the only months during which that share was higher were June and July of 2022, when inflation peaked.

The deterioration came despite steady inflation expectations at both the one- and three-year horizons.

In an even more concerning development for the GOP, households’ forward-looking assessments weren’t much better. Specifically, the total share expecting to be either “much” or “somewhat” worse off in a year rose to 36%, the highest since “Liberation Day.”

Meanwhile, the total share expecting be better off slipped below 23% for the first time in years.

The figure above shows the spread between the share expecting to be better off and those expecting to be worse off in a year.

At a net -13%, that metric reflects the most pessimistic assessment of household financial conditions since October of 2022, when the S&P troughed.

The results of the poll underscore the message from May’s record-low readings on all three University of Michigan sentiment gauges. Preliminary results for this month are due Friday.