It’s the economy, stupid.
Americans’ levels of optimism about their current and future personal financial situation has reached record or near-record highs, according to a new Gallup poll.
Fifty-nine percent of Americans say they are financially better off now than they were a year ago, an increase from 50% last year, according to the polling data from Gallup.
The prior record for such American financial optimism was a reading of 58% in January 1999, which was during the heart of the “dot-com” boom when economic conditions were similar.
The data also found that Americans are projecting significant optimism about their future financial situation, with 74% of Americans predicting that they will be better off financially a year from now. That’s the highest reading for this question since it was first asked in 1977, Gallup noted. The highest previous record was in 1998 at 71 percent.
The findings align with many of President Trump’s assertions that Americans are doing better under his presidency, Gallup said. During his State of the Union address last week Trump touted the burgeoning U.S. economy, tax cuts, growing wages, and job creation through a focus on manufacturing, along with low unemployment rates for African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans.
Meanwhile, Democrat presidential contenders including Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and billionaire Tom Steyer are attacking Trump on the campaign trail and in ads that maintain the economy and 2017 tax-cut package are designed to benefit the wealthy alone.
That opinion is in the minority, according to Gallup findings. Only 20% of Americans say they are financially worse off now than they were a year ago, with 21% saying they are financially the same.
Not surprisingly, the polling data found a partisan divide in the way Republicans and Democrats see their financial situations, with 76% of Republicans reporting that they are financially better off now than a year ago, while only 43% of Democrats reported the same. Meanwhile, 83% of Republicans expressed optimism about their future financial situation, compared to 60% of Democrats who said the same.
The pollster found that independents fell in between, with 58% expressing optimism about their current personal finances, and 76% predicting they will be better off next year.