Consumer sentiment among Democratic voters fell to a record low this month as sentiment fell across the political spectrum amid uncertainty and recession fears.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for March was released Friday and found that consumer sentiment across the board plunged from last month. Consumer sentiment for Democrats fell from 51.3 to 41.4 — the lowest number in survey history.

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To put that into context, Democratic sentiment went as low as 50.9 in 2008 during the onset of the global financial crisis. The latest numbers show just how much Democrats are fearful of how President Donald Trump’s economic policy agenda will affect the economy.

There is a big divergence in sentiment among Republicans and Democrats. Republican sentiment is at 83.9 in March, a decline from 86.7 in February, but a major increase from a recent low of 47.4 in August under former President Joe Biden.

There is an even starker divergence when it comes to consumer expectations.

The index of consumer expectations for Democrats in March is a grim 28.2, again a record low for the survey. Meanwhile, the index for Republicans is a healthy 95.7. While Democrats appear to think that tariffs and Trump’s economic agenda will only get worse, Republicans surveyed expect the current warning signs to abate and the economy to get better.

Speaking about the division in sentiment, Peter Loge, director of the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, told the Washington Examiner that partisanship has risen.

“Democrats tend to like Democrats more and Republicans less than ever before, and Republicans tend to like Republicans more Democrats less than ever before,” Loge said.

But total consumer sentiment — combining the views of Republicans, Democrats, and independents — also plunged by more than economists had anticipated.

Overall sentiment dropped 10.5% from the month before and is now at 57.9, below the consensus estimate that it would drop to 63.2. That is the lowest since 2022, when inflation was peaking.

Julie Hsu, the survey director, told the Washington Examiner that several factors are weighing down sentiment and expectations. Trump’s imposition of tariffs is one, but also a general sense of uncertainty is another. She said the concerns are “all across the board.”

“Consumers are really worried about multiple facets of the economy. It’s not just inflation, though they do expect tariffs to pass through to the prices consumers pay. They expect unemployment to go up. They’ve downgraded their expectations for stock markets. They’re feeling much less confident about their own personal incomes as well as business conditions,” Hsu said.

“It’s just really unanimous. People think we’re in a weaker position economically than last month,” she added.

The past couple weeks have been turbulent in the economic world and on Wall Street. Trump allowed some tariffs to go into effect, other countries announced retaliatory tariffs, and fear has grown among investors that the trade picture will worsen.

Trump administration officials have acknowledged that markets and consumers might feel some pain as the economy adjusts to the rollout of the White House economic agenda, an acknowledgement that was reflected in part through the latest consumer sentiment readings.

Hsu said that the final interviews for this week’s survey were done on Monday, so the index does capture some of the consumer reaction to the stock market plunge over the past two weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 7% over the past month.

Trump’s team has also worked to cut government employees and reduce the scope of government spending. The Atlanta Fed’s “GDPNow” tracker predicts that gross domestic product growth in the first quarter will fall by 2.4%, according to the latest estimate.

“Could we be seeing that this economy that we inherited starting to roll a bit? Sure,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said.

On Friday, the same day the new consumer sentiment numbers were released, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the rollout of the Trump economic agenda is more important than the specter of a recession.

“These policies are the most important thing America has ever had,” Lutnick told CBS. When asked if whether the policies would be worth it if a recession came, he said, “It’s worth it.”

“The only reason there could possibly be a recession is because the Biden nonsense that we had to live with,” Lutnick added. “These policies produce revenues. They produce growth. They produce factories being built here.”

There isn’t a single government agency that has the authority to declare a recession. Instead, those in government and most economists look to the National Bureau of Economic Research to declare one. The NBER is a private group that is seen as an authority on the matter.

NBER defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months,” although there has been a historical precedent of labeling two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth recessionary.

There is also a fear that souring economic sentiment could turn out to be self-fulfilling. If people expect that the economy is heading for a downturn or that inflation is going to get worse, they start acting and spending differently than they would have otherwise, which could exacerbate problems.

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“The pullback in confidence is becoming a real threat to consumer spending, which, as is often repeated, accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank. “Downside risks to the economic outlook have increased substantially over the last month.”

“People who are afraid the economy is headed into a ditch won’t buy new cars or houses, go out to eat, or go on vacations,” he added.