The outcome of November's presidential election may hinge on which candidate Americans believe is capable of improving the economy. According to a survey released today by annuity provider Aviva USA, Consumer Attitudes to Savings, Democrats are more optimistic about the country's and their own financial futures than Republicans.
People identifying themselves as Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to anticipate an improving U.S. economy in the next 12 months, says the study.
Thirty-three percent of Democrats expected the situation to improve, while only 16 percent of Republicans did. Democrats are also more than 50 percent more likely than Republicans to expect their own household financial situation to get better in the same period.
"Economic uncertainty remains high across America, with a low appetite for investment risk and consumers remaining generally cautious about their finances," said Matt Spackman, vice president of customer insight and analytics for Aviva USA, in a statement.
"According to the survey, Democrats feel more positive about the country and their own financial future," Spackman said. "However, regardless of party affiliation, this survey confirmed how prevalent economic concerns still are for most Americans."
Indeed, economic issues still largely troubled the survey respondents. Only 27 percent of Americans believe they have enough savings to cope with the unexpected, the survey suggests. And two out of three believe life is more risky than it used to be. Nearly six in 10 Americans expect to work beyond the normal retirement age and are worried they won't have enough saved for an acceptable standard of living upon retirement.
A sizable percentage of Americans seem to want someone else to intervene in their financial matters -- almost one in four respondents said they want someone to sort out their affairs, and 17 percent believe the only way to make certain they save for retirement is for it to be required by law.
Among other things, the survey found:
Thirty-two percent of respondents think financial planning is too complicated to do on their own.
Twenty percent of Americans expect to use money provided by someone in their family to fund part of their retirement.
Thirty-nine percent admit to feeling uncomfortable with their debt level.
Among those not yet retired, just 30 percent believe regularly setting aside money will be the primary means to fund their retirement.
The other sources of retirement income listed by respondents would be a personal or employer pension (listed as a source by 23 percent of respondents), work beyond the person's retirement age (noted by 17 percent), a state or government pension (listed by 11 percent) and the value of their homes (cited by 9 percent).
While perceptions about the economy in the U.S. were generally unchanged from those in previous surveys, in Europe the impact of the euro zone crisis affected consumer optimism and confidence.
Aviva's survey has been conducted annually since 2004 in multiple countries. Headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, Aviva offers indexed life insurance indexed annuities.