About half of Americans said they are struggling to stay where they are financially, but the other half said they're "basically stable," according to a new survey from the Monmouth University Polling Institute released Wednesday.
“Even with a declining inflation rate, prices continue to be much higher than they were four years ago,” Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray said, according to The Hill. "That’s the metric that has really mattered to many Americans over the past two years. Economic concerns may not be the top motivating factor for all voters but it defines the contours of this year’s election."
The poll of 1,106 people was conducted June 6-10 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points. It showed that 46% said they are struggling to stay where they are financially and 45% said their situation is stable.
Only 9% said their financial situation has been improving.
The results reflect the difficulty many people have experienced with the growth of inflation after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the poll, the number of people who said they are struggling has grown two points from December, when 44% said they were having difficulty.
Meanwhile, 24% of the poll's respondents said that inflation and rising prices are the "biggest concern" facing their families.
Inflation, at 24%, the economy, at 14%, and everyday household bills, at 11%, topped the biggest concerns facing American families.
Republicans, at 62%, and independents, at 51%, were more likely than Democrats, at 32%, to cite those three concerns. Democrats, at 22%, were more likely than independents, 14%, and Republicans, 6%, to focus on other costs such as housing, health care, college, and job security as their top concerns.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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