8 in 10 Long Islanders concerned about high grocery bills, Siena poll says

Long Island consumers' confidence has dropped so far in 2025 due to increased pessimism about the economic future, according to a poll released Wednesday. 

The Siena College Research Institute reported that last month its Index of Consumer Sentiment was 70.2 points in Nassau and Suffolk counties. That’s lower than the 72.9 measured at the end of last year.  

One component of the index measures whether people think they’re better off than they were a year ago, which was up about 4 points on Long Island from the previous quarter. But there was a "big drop" in future confidence, said pollster Don Levy with the Siena institute.

The index measuring the number of people who believe the economy will improve in coming months and years fell 7 points on Long Island, from 78.1 last quarter to 71 this quarter, Levy said. 

"It says that people are concerned," he said in an interview. "At this point in time, the significant changes that are coming out of D.C. in general, across the state of New York and specifically on Long Island are met with some concerns."

Long Islanders seemed primarily concerned about groceries and housing, with 8 in 10 saying the cost of groceries is causing a very serious or serious financial hardship each month and nearly 7 in 10 saying the cost of housing posed a significant economic barrier.

Despite the drop in consumer sentiment, Long Islanders remain more optimistic than they were at this point last year, with a future score at 69.6 and an overall consumer sentiment score of 67.7.

And the quarterly dip in confidence is not as extreme as the drop seen nationwide, said Steven Kent, chief economist for the Long Island Association.

The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index, which measures the whole country, indicated that, nationwide, people were far more pessimistic about the future economy, with a drop from 64.0 points in February to 52.6 in March. 

Overall consumer sentiment dropped nationally from 64.7 in February to 57.0 in March, according to the University of Michigan.

Unemployment is generally lower on Long Island than the rest of the country, and the local business community is vibrant and "pretty steady," Kent said, which might give people some confidence. 

Businesses and nonprofits "want stability, as opposed to some of the broader economic issues out there," said Kent, who is also an economics professor at Molloy University. More stability means "people will be able to make decisions without concerns about a change that could happen over the next weeks."

To Smithtown resident Vincent Failla, at least, the economy seems to be doing all right.

"Right now, I'm doing OK," said Failla, 71, of Smithtown, outside a Stew Leonard's in Farmingdale. "Believe it or not, I got faith in the direction we're going."

He said he isn't really concerned about the cost of groceries, although he understands why others might be.

Scott Bloom, 65, of Huntington Station, felt more pessimistic. 

"The economy was going in the right direction, and everything was good," he said. But the Trump administration's tariffs are "tanking the economy."

"I don't feel good about the economy at all," he added. "It's just terrible what's going on."

The rest of New York is slightly more pessimistic than the Long Island region, with the Index of Consumer Sentiment dropping 9 points from the last quarter of 2024 to 69.1. That’s a little more than 12 points above the national index of 57.

Those numbers are "the lowest we’ve seen since the inflation scare of June of 2022," Levy said in a statement released with the data.

New York Republicans remained more optimistic, with higher opinions of their current assessment of their finances and buying opportunities, but their view of future economic conditions still fell drastically, according to Levy.

Democrats in the state "hit a low they haven’t seen since COVID’s outbreak," he said.

Levy added: "Despite shopping at the same stores and now feeling gas and grocery pain nearly equally, Republicans say compared to last quarter the impact of prices has dramatically lessened while Democrats say prices are hitting them much harder."

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers personal finance and affordability for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.