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Prenups Go Mainstream, Better Towns Instead of Moonshots, and Why Americans Don’t Buy Into This Strong Economy
The latest trends in society and culture from The Harris Poll
Hello from NYC. One interesting number: 47. From hot Knicks summer to the World Cup, apparently fandom is happily sending many into debt. Half of sports fans (47%) would find a way to attend a championship event for their favorite team, no matter the cost.
Prenups Still Prevail
Prenups are wildly popular among Millennial and Gen Z Americans, with an 11-percentage-point jump from our 2022 poll with Bloomberg. So, what’s behind the craze?
- What we found: Today, half (53%) of engaged or married Gen Z and Millennials have signed a prenup – up from 2022 (Gen Z: 41%, Millennials: 34%). Prenup requests at one firm have more than doubled in the past three years, driven primarily by women.
- The stat you can’t ignore: The average age for a first marriage in 2025 was 28.4 for women and 30.8 for men – more than three years older than in 2005.
- What to consider: “It used to be mostly men and generally the wealthier spouse who would ask for a prenup,” said Andrea Vacca, a family law attorney in Manhattan. “Now it’s everyone: Women, lower-earners, couples who are saying ‘I don’t want my parents’ divorce.’ People have planned their lives up until this point, and they want to plan for marriage.”
What this means: Prenup talk used to be taboo – viewed as the first step of an impending divorce. But generational wealth transfers and a shrinking earnings gap have made prenups a standard part of the conversation today. “It’s not a sign that we’re preparing for divorce,” says Lindsey Nield, 27, a software engineer. “I look at it as a dose of reality if we were to get into that situation.”
We Want A Better Town, Not A Bigger Moonshot
Our new research with PMI shows how belief, hope, and trust all follow the same rule: the closer it gets to home, the more real it becomes. Check the findings here.
- What we found: Three-quarters of Americans (76%) still believe innovation will play a major role in building the nation’s future. Yet, even more (81%) say corporate rhetoric about innovation feels disconnected from real-world problems.
- The stat you can’t ignore: This isn’t about Americans rejecting innovation. It’s about seeing it where they live, as the most meaningful innovations are not the headline-makers but those that solve problems ordinary people face every day (86%).
- What to consider: Neighbors > corporations. Every day, people in their local communities (65%), local businesses and entrepreneurs (61%), and local nonprofits/community organizations (59%) give Americans more confidence in the future than large corporations (44%) and the federal government (41%).
What this means: “Neighbors over corporations. Main street over the federal government,” writes our CSO Libby Rodney: “That’s Americans telling us exactly where they think the future gets built. Not in a lab. Not in a pitch deck, but in the neighborhood where they’re raising their kids and paying their rent/mortgage. In fact, 89% of Americans say they’re more likely to believe a company’s innovation claims when they can see tangible benefits at the local level.”
The Economy is Humming. But Americans Aren’t Feeling It
The S&P 500 is up roughly 9.3% to 10% year-to-date. But our latest polling with The Guardian shows that Americans of all persuasions are down on the economy.
- What we found: An affordability crisis is crossing party lines, as about half of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents report having trouble affording everyday necessities.
- The stat you can’t ignore: Over half of Americans (57%) believe the overall economy is getting worse – up 11 percentage points from February (46%).
- What to consider: Even with stable employment and record-high stock markets, the current administration hasn’t inspired confidence. Three in five (57%) don’t feel the affordability crisis is even a priority of the federal government – a sentiment felt by half of Republicans (48%).
What this means: “Cratering economic sentiment may cause problems for the Republican party, which is trying to maintain a narrow control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections,” writes The Guardian’s Gaya Gupta. “But the poll also showed worrying signs for Democrats, who have been trying to convince independent voters that the party will be able to solve the affordability crisis. Among independent voters who believe there is an affordability crisis, more than half (54%) said that neither party has a solution.”
