BUSINESS & THE ECONOMY
Poll Shows Widespread Public Perceptions of Personal Economic Progress
But lower-income Americans least likely to report improvement
Almost two-thirds of all Americans -- 64% -- say that over the past three years, their personal financial situation has gotten better, while just 18% say it has gotten worse. But this assessment of upward mobility is not universal across all segments of American society; it varies substantially by how much people earn. Among Americans whose annual household income is more than $75,000 a year, 85% say their personal financial situation has improved, while just 7% say it has gotten worse, a net improvement of 78 percentage points. But that positive ratio declines as income declines, so that among Americans earning less than $10,000 a year, about an equal number say their financial situation has improved (39%) as say it has gotten worse (36%), a net improvement of just 3 percentage points.
View full release at <http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr990924.asp>.