The Three Blind Spots in How Consumer Sentiment Is Measured

In March 2020, government officials and epidemiologists were telling Americans to brace for a two-month shutdown. PYMNTS Intelligence went into the field and asked 1,923 consumers directly what they thought. They said five months. In May 2020, the experts said recovery would come by fall. Consumers said February 2021. In December 2020, when officials were projecting a return to normalcy by March 2021, consumers put it at January 2022. They were right every single time.

And no, this wasn’t luck.