Poll Reveals Americans’ Worsening Financial Status

It comes as no surprise that a large majority of US voters have shared that their financial situation continues to decline as a result of record-high gas prices, rising inflation, and a potentially looming recession.

Pollsters from Harvard CAPS/Harris have shared that roughly 56 percent of Americans feel that things are “getting worse” financially. 

Surprisingly enough, a report from The Hill indicates that 20 percent of voters felt their financial situation was steadily improving.

“This is a devastating finding that has been climbing month after month – no matter how they are actually doing, a solid majority believes now they are becoming worse off economically and that is America’s most critical read on the mood of the voters,” the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, Mark Penn, told The Hill.

The report also includes that, “the pessimistic view of Americans’ personal finances comes as the country continues to face the highest rate of inflation in decades. Consumer prices climbed 8.3 percent in April compared with a year earlier, marking the fastest increase in roughly 40 years.”

There seems to be no end to the increasing prices of gas, which continue to break record highs.

AAA’s gas price tracker indicates that the national average cost of gas per gallon sits at $4.59 currently. In California, the prices are only that much worse, at over six dollars. Many other states, which include Alaska, Nevada, Oregon and Washington also sit at above five dollars per gallon.

In fact, some areas of the country actually have the price of gas higher than the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25.

“There it is: a gallon of gas costs more than the federal minimum wage,” tweeted comedian River Butcher with a photo of the cost of gas in California.

It was also reported that about 49 percent of respondents believe they would expect the country to enter an economic recession within the next year, while 36 percent felt that we are already in the midst of an economic downturn.

Interestingly, about 16 percent of people believe that the nation will avoid the possibility of a recession.

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