‘My life is not affordable. No one cares’

By Jennifer Agiesta, Annette Choi, Ariel Edwards-Levy, Edward Wu, David Goldman, CNN

(CNN) — “It’s more expensive to exist.”

“You’re just staying afloat instead of getting ahead.”

“It should not be like this.”

Those responses to a new CNN poll sum up Americans’ feelings about the economy: They just feel stuck.

CNN’s poll, conducted by SSRS, finds a surge in people naming high prices and the cost of living as the top economic problem facing their family. Strong majorities are pessimistic about the economy as a whole — almost 7 in 10 believe a recession is likely in the next year — and about their own ability to cover expenses and make purchases.

Those negative feelings about the economy, with major political implications for the midterms, reflect the strain across economic, generational and partisan lines on Americans’ everyday lives. Many people are trimming their grocery lists and cutting back spending on extras, and few feel comfortably able to save.

Americans feel a prevailing sense of economic uncertainty and precarity

A widening wealth gap in the United States has insulated the overall economy from a downturn. Stripping away gas prices and inflation, consumers continued to increase their spending during the first month of the Iran war. Part of the reason is that paycheck growth has outpaced inflation each month for nearly three years — a streak that could be broken in April as inflation expectations rise.

But averages don’t tell the full story: Middle-income and lower-income Americans’ wages stopped outpacing inflation last year, according to Bank of America.

That’s left many Americans in a sour mood about their financial prospects.

The public has held a negative view of the economy for five straight years in CNN’s polling. There’s a near-universal sense that the current economic moment is a better time to save than to spend on major purchases: Eighty-eight percent feel that way, including more than 8 in 10 across income brackets.

Perceptions of the economy went south shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly because prices rose sharply and the housing market froze. Although inflation has come back down in recent years, job growth has remained surprisingly strong and consumer spending has stayed robust, people haven’t yet adjusted to higher prices. Many feel left out of an unaffordable housing market.

Cost of living is a major concern across the board

Americans from all backgrounds name cost of living as their primary financial concern in an open-ended question.

Worries about the costs of food and gas are particularly prominent, with the share specifically naming gas prices rising from 5% a year ago to 23% now.

About one-third of Americans say they worry all or most of the time that their income won’t be enough to meet their expenses, with another 42% saying they worry about that at least some of the time.

Most say they cannot comfortably afford extras like a nice dinner out or a vacation, and only about a third feel they can comfortably afford an emergency expense of $1,000 or to save money for the future.

There’s little belief that the economic system works for average Americans

Three-quarters of Americans say the economic system unfairly favors powerful interests, and less than half now say that most people who want to get ahead can make it if they’re willing to work hard.

About half of Americans are dissatisfied with their financial situation, and more see their finances as worsening in the last year rather than improving.

And two-thirds of American workers say their wages are not keeping up with those climbing prices. That’s true for majorities across education and income lines, and regardless of whether people work in offices, factories or on outdoor worksites. Even among those workers earning household incomes of $150,000 or more, 57% say their wages aren’t keeping up.

About three-quarters of Americans say it’s harder to get ahead now than it was a generation ago, and a similar share say it will be even harder for the next generation.

As one person from Indiana who took the survey put it, “We are making the most money we have ever made, yet we have the least financial freedom we have ever experienced due to the increasing prices.”

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CNN’s Koko Nakajima contributed to this report.