The following is an excerpt from Gallup News.
Reflecting on their personal financial situations, 35% of Americans say they are better off now than they were a year ago, while 50% are worse off.
Since Gallup first asked this question in 1976, it has been rare for half or more of Americans to say they are worse off.
The only other times this occurred was during the Great Recession era in 2008 and 2009.
The latest results are based on a Jan. 2-22 Gallup poll.
They follow a year of persistent high inflation, with the highest inflation rates since 1982. Stock market values declined and interest rates rose in 2022, but, on average, personal wages increased substantially.
In both 2021 and 2022, Americans were evenly divided between saying they were better off versus worse off, including a 41% to 41% split in last year’s survey.
By contrast, before the pandemic in January 2020, Americans were almost three times as likely to say they were better off (59%) as worse off (20%). The 59% reading is one of the highest in Gallup’s trends, along with a 58% reading in 1999.
Lower-Income Americans More Likely to Say They Are Losing Ground
Most lower-income Americans, 61%, say their financial situation has deteriorated over the past year, while less than half that number, 26%, indicate it has improved.
Middle- and upper-income Americans are also more likely to say they are worse off than better off, but by much narrower margins than seen among the lower-income group.
Many more lower-income Americans this year say they are worse off than said so last year (41%).
Upper-income Americans are also more likely to say they are worse off now (by 10 percentage points), while middle-income Americans’ results are similar to last year’s survey.
Read more of Gallup’s polling results here.
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