Poll: 58 Percent of Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck

The majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, a new poll has found.

According to a new NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll released Wednesday, the majority of registered voters, 58%, say they're having enough trouble affording basic necessities — housing, food, health, transportation — and have no money left over.

The poll comes during an election year, amid which President Joe Biden has been running on a message of the United States' experiencing a prosperous economy.

On May 8, Biden gave an interview to CNN. The president attested that the economy was doing well, but the people just weren't seeing it.

"We've already turned" the economy "around," Biden responded to a question about voter perception of the economy. "Look at the Michigan survey, where 65% of the American people think they're in good shape economically. They think the nation's not in good shape, but they're personally in good shape."

Special: Proven Strategy to Reach Financial Freedom... Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

"The polling data has been wrong all along," the president continued. "How many of you guys do a poll at CNN? How many folks do you have to call to get one response? The idea that we're in a situation where things are so bad ... we're in a situation where people have access to good-paying jobs. ... When I started this administration, people were saying there's going to be a collapse in the economy; we have the strongest economy in the world. Let me say it again: in the world."

Despite the president's strong conviction, among the polled voters, another 58% said they disapproved of his presiding over the country. But overall, 92% said they were concerned about inflation.

But according to economist Peter St Onge, Biden's job numbers that he's praised as a focal point of his economic plan are "fake."

St Onge went on to state three weeks ago that the current jobs report didn't account for the millions who never returned to work after the COVID-19 pandemic. A few months prior, St Onge commented that a jobs report failed to mention how the majority of the jobs created were government jobs.

As the November election draws nearer, the economy was the No. 1 topic registered voters told pollsters they wanted to see discussed in a debate. The first debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump is slated for June 27.

The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters online from May 28-29. The margin of error for the paycheck-to-paycheck question was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The margin of error for the questions about Biden's job performance and inflation was plus or minus 3 percentage points.