Nearly seven in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard of living, as concern has spiked higher in just the past five months, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Soaring consumer prices are a major challenge, with many people struggling under the weight of the rising costs of fuel, food and health care. Not to mention their bloated mortgages and maxed-out credit cards, all Bush's fault!
The poll shows that the weak economy and rising prices are high among voters' concerns, and contribute to a souring national mood in this presidential election year. More than eight in 10 said the country has veered pretty seriously off-track, and a separate poll released yesterday by ABC showed economic anxiety at its highest level on record since 1981.
Overall, 68 percent of people surveyed in the new Post-ABC poll said they were concerned about their ability to keep up their lifestyles, a jump of 17 percentage points since December. The increase cuts across party and income lines, spreading rapidly among Republicans, people from rural areas and those from middle- and upper-income households.
Nearly six in 10 of those from households with annual incomes of $100,000 or higher said they were worried about hanging onto their living standards, up from a third in December. And 56 percent of Republicans in the new poll expressed concern, up from 32 percent.
So the rich are also a bunch of self-indulgent whiners, too?
In the new poll, 20 percent of those surveyed cited the higher gasoline prices as the single most important economic issue, and more, about a third, pointed more generally to rising prices as the primary cause of their apprehension.
So why does the lower figure get cited first?
By the way, the next story on the radio this morning, after the one above, was how saving Bear-Stearns reduced the chance of recession from 90% in April to 45% in May. I wanted to post that right above this article, but - surprise, surprise! Even Google can't find it!