Are you financially better off than a year ago? New poll finds a partisan divide

Nearly half of Americans say they’re financially “worse off” than a year ago, a new poll found, but money worries varied tremendously depending on political party.

A recent survey, conducted by YouGov, asked Americans their thoughts on the U.S. economy, as well as their personal financial situations, and 42% of people said they and their family’s finances have worsened over the last year.

However, a deeper look at the numbers reveals a partisan divide, with 60% of Republicans reporting they’re doing worse now than in 2023, and a much smaller number of Democrats, 22%, reporting the same.

These numbers also aligned with people’s preferred presidential candidates, as 65% of those planning to vote for former President Donald Trump said their finances are slipping, compared to 20% of Vice President Kamala Harris supporters.

Harris voters differed significantly from Trump supporters — and the U.S. population in general — in another significant way: 28% of them said they are actually “better off” financially than in the previous year. By comparison, the poll shows 15% of the American public said things improved for them financially, and only 4% of Trump voters said the same.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 6 and 7. It sampled 1,604 U.S. citizens over the age of 18 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

What’s behind the divide?

“This is not surprising,” R. Michael Alvarez, professor of political science at the California Institute of Technology, told McClatchy News in an email. “Many of the economic shocks over the past few years have hit hard among Republican voters, in particular high inflation and high interest rates. Trump and (J.D.) Vance have hammered home this point in their rallies, campaign communications, and in the debates.”

But could the gloomy economic outlook shared by a majority of Republicans and conservatives be a matter of perspective shaped by their political beliefs? Are they feeling things are worse than they really are because a democratic president is in office?

“However, there is some partisan bias in these views, some partisan blame and attribution, as it’s likely that Republicans have a more negative view of their family’s financial because they believe the Biden administration’s policies have reduced their economic opportunities,” Alvarez said.

A 2020 Gallup study suggests it’s possible — that partisans on either side of the political spectrum are influenced by party affiliation in an increasingly polarized political system.

During the 2020 study, Republicans were “more positive than Democrats in their responses to every measure” when asked about the economy.

“In other words, Americans’ political identities clearly reflect the way they look at the nation’s economic situation and the way they evaluate their own personal financial situations,” Gallup said.

Interestingly though, the Gallup poll found “no significant differences in party groups’ ratings of their personal financial situations among those making $75,000 a year and more” and those making less than $30,000 a year.

An intensifying pattern

Robert Erikson, a professor of political science at Columbia University, told McClatchy in an email that it’s “mainly (a person’s) politics that drives how they answer the question about their personal economic well-being.”

“This pattern has intensified in this era of partisan polarization,” Erikson added. “If Trump were to win, I guarantee that his voters would soon be reporting good economic outcomes and the reverse would be true of Trump’s opponents.”

Perception probably plays a part, Alvarez says. If Trump were to win a second term, would that alleviate some of the financial worrying on the right?

“Maybe, because perceptions about past household financial gains might start to be affected by optimism among Republicans about policy change under a Trump/Vance administration,” Alvarez said.

But it’s unlikely that feelings of financial pressure are a product of imagination, or distaste for the other side’s politics, he says.

“There is still likely a strong component of reality in these perceptions about family financial security in the recent past, as many Americans have been hit hard by the high cost of groceries, gas, housing, and the general high costs of living in most parts of the country,” Alvarez said.