A 38 percent pluraility of Americans say they are better off financially right now than they they were a year ago, the first time that’s happened in five years worth of Gallup data.
Thirty-four percent of Americans say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, and 26 percent say their situation hasn’t changed. From Gallup’s analysis:
Americans are not as positive today about their personal finances as they were in 1996 before Bill Clinton won a second term. The 49% who felt financially better off in March of that year is the highest Gallup has seen in a year in which an incumbent president runs for re-election.
Still, while fairly low on an absolute basis, the 38% of Americans feeling better off today is on par with what Gallup found before the 2004 and 1984 elections, when Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan won their re-election bids. Those figures were 41% in November 2003 and 39% in September 1984, respectively.
