The bulk of Americans has become markedly pessimistic about financial success in their children’s future, a new public opinion poll by Gallup has found.
The survey has discovered that today’s level of financial optimism across the United States is the lowest in nearly 30 years.
Less than half of all US adults – or 42% – are now optimistic in that they believe it is “somewhat” or “very likely” for today’s youth to “have a better living standard, better homes, a better education and so on.”
The lowest optimism level in the same type of survey was recorded back in 1995 when it stood at only 11%.
The new 2022 low matches that of 2011. It is a decrease of 18 percentage points compared with the financial optimism level among Americans, registered at 60% in June 2019.
Historical data shows that US adults were the most hopeful in 1999 and then again in 2001, at 71% in each case.
Gallup launched the poll in 2008 but supplemented it with data from The New York Times and CBS News between 1995 and 2003.
The pollster’s report points out that while the high inflation and the recession anticipation for the US economy have brought about a bleak mood, Republican and independent voters have become the most pessimistic.
As per the Gallup poll findings, more than half of the Democratic Party supporters – 53% – are optimistic that their children’s lives would be better off financially than their own.
Even so, the Democrats’ figure is historically the lowest, two percentage points lower than the previous negative record.
In comparison, only 33% of Republican supporters feel optimistic about the financial future of today’s American youth.
That isn’t the lowest optimism level among GOP voters, which was registered in 2012 at 30%.
The report notes that Republicans’ optimism suffers more significant variations than Democrats’ after there is a new US president from a different party.
Thus, GOP voters’ optimism spiked by 29 points after Donald Trump was elected to the White House in 2016. Before that, after Democrat Barack Obama was elected in 2008, it declined by 17 points.
In the Democrats’ case, their optimism level went down by 13% after Trump got elected. Yet, Joe Biden’s election in 2020 has not caused a spike for them.
The latest Gallup poll found more optimism among lower-income Americans, standing at 52% for those making under $40,000 per year. However, for those with annual salaries above $40,000, only 40% are optimistic.
A new Gallup Poll shows Americans have little optimism for the financial success of their children — its lowest in almost three decades.https://t.co/0xirm12LPl
— Newsmax (@newsmax) October 25, 2022
