UBS finds millionaire investors are more optimistic than before 2024 but are actively repositioning portfolios ahead of November 3
Wealthy American investors are heading into the November 3, 2026, midterm elections with greater confidence than they carried into the 2024 presidential election but that optimism has not made them passive.
A surge in demand for financial advisor guidance and a broad appetite for portfolio repositioning signal that this election cycle is driving significant client activity, according to the UBS Investor Watch report "Cautious Optimism," which surveyed 1,018 U.S. investors with at least $1 million in investable assets between September 4 and 11, 2026.
The data offers a clear signal that clients are looking for help. The share of investors who say they are more likely to consider working with a financial advisor during an election year more than doubled compared with 2024 - rising from 29% to 59%.
That figure, combined with the finding that 84% of respondents want more guidance than usual from their advisor during an election year, points to a significant opportunity for advisors who can speak credibly to market and policy implications.
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Optimism up, but caution persists
The UBS October 2026 report reveals that 64% of respondents described themselves as highly optimistic about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, up from 55% ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Optimism about global economic conditions also improved to 56% from 42% over the same period.
Some 77% of surveyed investors expressed high optimism about their investment returns over the next six months, edging up from 74% in 2024.
The UBS report attributed part of that improved mood to a 36% gain in U.S. stock markets since the November 2024 presidential election, citing U.S. Bank Asset Management Group Research and Bloomberg data as of September 2, 2026. Additionally, 82% of respondents said they were highly confident in achieving their long-term financial goals.
Despite the upbeat tone, the survey makes clear that wealthy investors are not simply sitting still.
Nine in 10 respondents whose political views influence their investment decisions said they are considering portfolio changes ahead of the midterms, with the most common planned actions including sector reallocation (49%), adding portfolio hedges (44%), increasing cash holdings (43%) and adding precious metals (38%).
A smaller but meaningful segment (44%) said they were taking the opposite approach and planning to increase their exposure to equities.
Issues beyond the economy are gaining ground
The economy remains the dominant election concern, cited as highly important by 88% of investors in the UBS October 2026 survey, up from 84% in 2024. But several other issues have moved sharply higher on investors' priority lists compared with two years ago.
Healthcare jumped from 66% to 81% as a top-ranked concern, while national defense rose from 61% to 72%. Trade policies and tariffs, cited as highly important by 71% of respondents in the 2026 survey, did not appear as a comparable data point in the 2024 results, reflecting how much the policy conversation has shifted since the last presidential cycle. Education also climbed considerably, from 49% in 2024 to 69% in the October 2026 survey.
Immigration, by contrast, declined (falling from 68% in 2024 to 63% in 2026) suggesting investors have recalibrated which issues carry the greatest portfolio implications heading into the midterms.
Political views and generational divides
Political views influence investment decisions to a great deal for 42% of Millennial respondents and 37% of Gen Z respondents, compared with just 10% of Boomers. Among Gen X, the figure sat at 28%.
That divergence has practical implications for advisors managing multigenerational households. Younger clients are far more likely to factor political outcomes into allocation decisions — sometimes in ways that run counter to long-term financial planning principles.
The advisor opportunity
The demand-side data in the UBS October 2026 survey is hard to ignore. Some 88% of investors said they would like to better understand the implications of the 2026 midterm elections on their portfolios, up from 78% in 2024.
The doubling of the share of investors who say they are more likely to work with an advisor during an election year (from 29% to 59%) is the kind of shift that translates directly into inbound client inquiries and opportunities to demonstrate advisory value.
The UBS findings underscore a recurring lesson from election cycles: uncertainty, not just market performance, drives clients toward advice. Advisors who can frame the policy landscape - healthcare, trade, tax, national debt - in terms of portfolio implications are best positioned to meet that demand.
The UBS Investor Watch survey of 1,018 investors was conducted September 4–11, 2026, and reflects respondents with at least $1 million in investable assets. The partisan breakdown of the sample was 43% Republican, 34% Democrat and 13% Independent.
