I was on Martha’s Vineyard last weekend.
I’d been a few times before. It’s a huge pain in the ass to get there from Pittsburgh. Limited flights to Boston relegated me to JetBlue. Nothing against them, but I didn’t even have their app on my phone. My boarding group sucked so bad, they had to check my bag. The worst.
Two hours flying, two in a jitney, and forty-five minutes on a ferry make for a long day. Luckily, I had a travel companion, since Tara had to stay home with Noelle. It was a guy from my political days, Bill, who I hadn’t seen in maybe a decade. We met at the gate at PIT, where Bill noticed we were wearing the identical model and color of Nike running shoes. Ugh.
Anyway, the trip was for one of my best friends Robert’s 50th birthday party. We worked together on a U.S. Senate campaign in our early 20s, living in Philadelphia, while logging hundred-hour weeks. You can’t help but bond through an experience like that.
Aside from Bill, I only knew one of the twelve guests, all from different parts of Robert’s life. Most people knew no one. Among them were an art dealer, a writer for Comedy Central, a college professor, a bigwig finance exec, and other fabulous people. We each had our own room across three adjacent houses in Oak Bluffs. It had every making of an Agatha Christie novel.
Also, it rained – literally – nonstop. We felt bad at first because they’d planned much of the weekend outside. We felt worse for the many weddings we saw on the island.
In the end, the weather added to the charm of the whole affair. Oceanside clam chowder and lobster rolls taste better while wearing a rain jacket. We spent our time eating, drinking, then eating and drinking again. Robert’s partner Brent and I played guitar and sang.
But mostly we talked – A LOT. Every person was different. Every conversation was different, some very deep, some not so much. The only through line was our common friend, who by all accounts has impeccable taste in people. A few of us joked about our Imposter Syndrome.
On Sunday morning, Bill and I started our long journey home, still wearing matching shoes, far closer than we’d been two days earlier. It occurred to us that we’d likely never see most of our new friends again. Nobody exchanged phone numbers. I don’t even know anyone’s last name to find them on social media.
But I’ll never forget them.
Life is such a trip.
Here’s what we’re seeing:
Consumer confidence jumped on the news of last week’s rate cuts. You might be scratching your head because just Tuesday, The Conference Board reported the biggest drop in its Consumer Confidence Index in three years. The problem with the CCI is it’s based on a 300-household sample, collected on a day or two in the middle of the month – which, in this case, was a few days before the Fed’s recent half-point interest rate cut. Our “always on” Economic Sentiment Index, on the other hand, captured a surge over the past two weeks, particularly in the days following Chairman Powell’s announcement. Read it for yourself or take my word for it when I tell you people became much more optimistic.
Improved optimism aside, job seekers are increasingly willing to sacrifice flexibility for greater pay. In a major shift over the past year – likely driven by household financial pressures – people in the market for new jobs are far less likely to prioritize flexibility in their work situation. Income, job security, and growth opportunities, meanwhile, grew in importance. Also in our latest study on today’s job seekers, we looked at the most popular job search sites and trends in the number of interviews or pre-job projects applicants are experiencing across different job types.
Whether in politics or sports, Americans are growing more concerned about violence. In our 3 Things to Know this week, we examined rising concerns over political violence in recent months, a rare issue upon which Republicans and Democrats widely agree. Independents are less bothered. Loosely related, we also found declining trust in the NFL to protect player safety, perhaps influenced by Tua Tagovailoa’s ugly injury a couple of weeks ago or the near-death of Damar Hamlin. Finally, we looked at the growing trend of U.S. adults doing traditionally social activities, like dining out or going to the movies, all by their lonesome.
Hispanic Americans are tuning out from politics as the discourse weighs on their emotional well-being. Even as our collective national attention around politics surged over the summer, the trend was far less pronounced among U.S. Hispanics. And, over the past month, while national attention remained steady, it fell slightly among those same Hispanics. Correlated with that declining interest is Hispanics’ rising sense of sadness, stress, and exhaustion when asked how they feel about the current state of politics. Who can blame them?
Speaking of emotional well-being, people are feeling uncannily similar across the political spectrum. We published our latest Emotional Well-Being Index this week, a measure that, incidentally, is highly correlated with consumer spending across various categories of consumer goods. But that’s a conversation for another day. Today, I’m much more fascinated by the trends in emotional well-being when looked through a political lens. For the first time in a long time, well-being among Republicans dipped below that of Democrats in September. Just as notable is the fact that Rs, Ds, and Independents are separated by only a fraction of a point. We’re all equally sad, stressed, and worried as Election Day nears – if heading in different directions.
More awesomeness from the InsightStore:
- 5 unexpected insights about Glossier, one of the biggest names in beauty today;
- Dollar store shoppers could be shifting more of their buying online as the holiday approaches;
- The Burger King/Walmart+ collab was kind of a no-brainer for both.
The most popular questions this week:
What’s your view on sports card collecting?
Do you believe in astrology predictions?
Answer Key: Main dishes; The internet ruined it; DMB; Not even a little; Hmm – I don’t think so, but I could be convinced otherwise by people in tip-heavy jobs.
Hoping you’re well.
JD
