“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,” the pollster said.
Since 1976, when Gallup first asked this question, the share of Americans who expressed such concerns was higher only twice — during the Great Recession era in 2008 and 2009, it added.
Last year, 41% percent of Americans said they are better off, and the same number of respondents expressed the opposite view.
The estimate of personal financial situation is closely related to the income. The poll revealed that lower-income people more often feel they are loosing 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,” the survey read.
Despite high inflation and other concerns, almost two thirds of Americans remain optimistic about their financial prospects. Sixty percent expect to be better off a year from now, while 28% predict they will be worse off. This is the case even though Americans are largely pessimistic about national macroeconomic conditions.
The poll was conducted from January 2-22 based on telephone interviews among 1,011 adults from all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.