Poll: Majority of Middle-Class Americans Report Financial Struggles

Nearly two-thirds of middle-class Americans are struggling with their finances under President Joe Biden’s economy, according to a poll from the National True Cost of Living Coalition.

The poll surveyed 2,500 Americans. Among the middle-class respondents, defined as household incomes of at least $60,000 for a family of four, 65% said they are struggling financially, Bloomberg reported. The poll also found that one in five Americans with household incomes of more than $150,000 for a family of four worry about paying their bills.

“The economy is booming, and yet many Americans are still gasping for air financially,” said Jennifer Jones Austin, chief executive officer of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, which helped commission the poll. “They simply don’t have the breathing room to plan beyond their present needs.”

While the U.S. has seen job growth under Biden following business closures during the COVID pandemic, the inflation rate remains higher than when the president took office in January of 2021. Under most of President Donald Trump’s one term in office, inflation hovered around 2%. The inflation rate was just 1.4% in early 2021 when Biden took over before it jumped to 7% by December of that year. In June of 2022, inflation reached a peak rate of 9.1% before it dropped again, and it now stands at 3.4%.

President Biden has argued that skyrocketing inflation under his administration is due to the aftershock of the COVID pandemic and the policies of his predecessor. Biden even falsely claimed that the inflation rate was already at 9% “when I came to office.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “supply-chain disruptions” were a large part of the considerable inflation increase in Bidens’ first year before “energy price shocks” became “the primary cause of the high inflation rates from late 2021 to the middle of 2022.”

Inflation has driven up the prices of food, gas, and housing. The economic struggles of American families have made it difficult for many people to add to their savings, according to the National True Cost of Living Coalition poll. Forty-six percent of those surveyed said they did not have $500 saved — troubling findings reflect some results from the Federal Reserve’s annual survey published last month.

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According to the Federal Reserve survey, 13% of respondents said they would be unable to cover a $400 emergency expense “by any means.” The Federal Reserve also found that inflation remains the top financial concern for most respondents.

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