CBS Poll: The Middle Class Squeeze

Majority Think Life Has Gotten More Difficult For Middle Class

(CBS)  The last few years have seen economic gains for the wealthiest Americans, at least in part resulting from tax cuts and investment gains, and many Americans are living well — buying large homes, expensive cars and luxury products. But has any of this wealth trickled down to the middle class?

According to the latest CBS News Poll, most Americans — and most of those with mid-range incomes — don't think so; instead, many think the middle class has experienced tougher times. 59% think that life for middle class Americans has gotten worse in the last 10 years. Just 30% think it’s gotten better.

54% of those with incomes of $30,000 to $75,000 (44% of those who describe themselves as "middle class" have incomes in this range) concur that life has indeed gotten worse for the middle class.

Over the past 10 years, life for the middle class has gotten:
(All respondents)
Better
30 percent
Worse
59 percent
Same (vol.)
7 percent

($30,000-$75,000)
Better
31 percent
Worse
54 percent
Same (vol.)
12 percent

Those with incomes of $30,000 to $75,000 would have trouble paying for large or unexpected expenses. 47% in this income range would have a lot of trouble paying a bill for $1000 right away, and 47% are very concerned about paying for large expenses such as healthcare, tuition, housing or retirement.

But most Americans with incomes of $30,000 to $75,000 are
managing to stay afloat financially. 56% are keeping their heads above water. Just one in 5 is getting ahead, and 23% are falling behind.

Overall, half of Americans feel that they are staying even financially. A quarter say they are falling behind, and another 22% say they are getting ahead. Nearly a decade ago, in early 1998, Americans were more likely to feel they were getting ahead.

Financially, are you ... :
(All respondents)
Getting ahead
21 percent
Staying even
50 percent
Falling behind
27 percent

($30,000-$75,000)
Getting ahead
19 percent
Staying even
56 percent
Falling behind
23 percent

(1998 poll response)
Getting ahead
31 percent
Staying even
48 percent
Falling behind
20 percent

Among those with incomes of $30,000 to $75,000, seven in 10 have not graduated from college. This group tends to be middle-aged; 31% are 30 to 44 years old and another 34% are 45 to 64. Most are white, and more than half live in the Midwest or South.

For detailed information on how CBS News conducts public opinion surveys, click here.

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 994 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone April 9-12, 2007. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. 396 interviews were conducted among respondents with household incomes of $30,000 to $75,000; the margin of error for this group is plus or minus five percentage points.

[jfgordon24]

The rich don't get taxed as much becuz the politicians are trying to stay on their good side.. so they will donate money for their campaign, so they can win...its pretty simple.. n it will b that way for a very long time...

[bellal-2009]

The only thing better for the middle class is retirement accounts which doesn't exactly help because of the 10% penalty for early distribution which is outrageous. Middle class should not have to pay that penalty.

[bellal-2009]

What planet are those 30% on that think things are better for the middle class.

[bellal-2009]

Sorry frankly6, you raise my taxes by 10% and I'd have to borrow to make up the difference. My property taxes have doubled, my health insurance has increased by 30%, my income has stayed the same. NO MORE TAXES on the middle class. We're drowning here.

[acauble1]

For the United States to survive as a country beyond 20 years from now, there must be two things done immediately:

Cut spending on everything by 50%. (yes, everything)!

Raise taxes on everyone by 10% (income, cap gains, dividend, everything).

And maybe that **might** take care of the interest on our national debt. Though the upcoming crises in Social Security and Medicare may be nearly impossible to avoid even with the suggestions above.

It's a hard pill to swallow, and many people can't handle the truth and sacrafices we all will have to make in the near future.

The vast majority of the voting public would best be symbolized as a 400 pound person about to shove a Big Mac in their face....

...if asked to trade-in the Big Mac for a leafy green salad (no dressing), the answer would be pretty obvious...

...and the future result will be clear.
Irresponsible politicians exclaim there is nothing to fear,
but because of their arrogance,
our death as a sovereign country,
is near.

[frankly6]

This is "trickle down economics" at its best.

It's time we stop running up massive deficits so that the wealthiest amoung us enjoy huge tax cuts and the bill is passed on to the middle class.

[mh4cbs1]

Why are my WAGES taxed at a HIGHER rate that the Billionaires who make a killing in the investment world while they sit on their ***??

Because the Republicans and Democrats BOTH represent the wealthy, the corporate elite.

And every time someone complains about the massive RIP-OFF, the billionaires accuse the middleclasss of "Class Warfare".

Its a Class War all right! And it has been waged AGAINST the middleclass since Ronald Reagan, and the middleclass has been getting Hammered!

Wake up and FIGHT BACK. Vote them OUT, Republicans AND Democrats who only pay lip-service.

[jn122736]

gkc99,

I would have to agree with a lot of what you say about Bill Clinton%u2019s administration. I have often said Bill Clinton was the best republican president since Ike.

Signing NAFTA, backing excessive gun control laws, and a few things like that caused a lot of moderate democrats and independents to change their voting practices allowing the republicans to take over both branches of congress for the first time in decades, and consequently the presidency for the past 6 plus years.

Not trying harder to get independent Judges approved by the republican Senate didn%u2019t help much either.

I don%u2019t know about Hillary but right now we need a democratic president or a large enough majority of democrats in both houses to over ride vetoes in order to repair the mess the Bush administration has brought us down to. An independent president would be acceptable but that isn%u2019t really possible at this time. So I would vote for Hillary over a republican in 2008 though I would prefer a better choice.

[gkc99]

While the Bushits, George the Elder and his son Curious George, have done much to plunder the middle class, giving huge tax breaks to their billionaire pals and putting their optional war on a credit card, let's not forget all that Globalizer #1, Bill Clinton, the President from Microsoft and Intel, did to screw over the middle class. Outsourcing, giveaways of key technologies to Asians for money, loss of US manufacturing and technological edges, we can all thank Hound Dog Billy for. Can Wronged Wife #1, Hilly, be any less in favor of these programs? Is there any political party that does things for Americans, not foreigners, any more?

[kesac4650]

How about a poll, on whether more whiners take polls today tha in '98.

[ne_patriot7]

The timing of this article co-incides with an article in my local paper this morning..

These stats are for the immediate area around where I live over the past 8 years:
Housing value: down 27%
Taxes (for individuals: up 49%
Taxes (for business): up 70%
Manufacturing: ten major manufacturers have gone belly up of left the area, including IBM, GE, a major shoe manufacturer, Link systems, and with these companies leaving, 22,000 jobs have been lost.. That's part of the reason home values are in the sh*tter, the market is glutted with houses for sale by the banks that have foreclosed on them.
Population in the area is down 4,000..

Yep... the republicans have done a wonderful job...
Sure glad the people left in this area finally got the balls to axe the republican yes man congressman that has had this district for the past 20 years... At least it is a start... now if we could axe the chimp and dead eye, we'd really be making progress..

[walt1944-2009]

Energy bills are 2 to 3 times what they were last year. Gasoline in the midwest is over $3.30 a gallon. You can't walk out of grocery store without spending $100 for food grown in a foreign country that is overpriced, and loaded with chemicals that could give you cancer tomorrow. A doctor's visit is $200 for him to just say "Hi" and paying for prescription medicine is making a mortgage payment. People can't afford to buy a home anymore, and buying a new car is a privilege for the rich today.

Who says the middle class isn't being squeezed out of existence?! And what does our "fearless" leader what? Does he care what is happening to the middle class? He just wants more money to keep fighting a useless war and bankrupt the country!

[iceman_1960]

"to liberate Kuwait" - from Iraqi troops, that is.

Kuwait's Sheik (or Emir or Pasha or Sultan or Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler, or whatever the h*ell he is), was returned to power.

There was no attempt by Bush the Elder to impose a Western style democracy there.

[iceman_1960]

"How long has it been since a republican president has won a war?" - Posted by radiob at 06:22 PM : Apr 15, 2007

Dubya's prudent father was successful in war.

The first Gulf War could be called a Mission Accomplished, if not a victory, since the mission was sensibly selected: to liberate Kuwait, not to liberate Iraq.

The overthrow of Manuel Noriega in Panama was a very small "war" that resulted in victory.

[jn122736]

You are exactly right.
Reagan started the borrow-and-spend policy in the 80%u2019s running the national debt into the trillions.

Bush Jr. has done even worse with his tax cuts and paying for his war through borrowing, thereby doubling the national debt. The annual interest on just a part of the debt is somewhere around $1/2 trillion which equals what we have spent on the Iraq fiasco in more than 4 years and that interest (to China, Japan, etc) must be paid EVERY year.

The government has borrowed about $2 trillion from the social security surplus alone, plus at least that much more from other programs, on which no interest is paid.

The favorite claim made by the republicans is; cutting taxes helps the economy.

When we borrow trillions of dollars from foreign countries instead of cutting spending to pay for the tax cuts we are loosing control of our country and steadily going into bankruptcy and ruin.

When the democrats are in control and try to pay down the debt they are falsely labeled as the tax & spend party.

Nearly all jobs created over the past 3 decades have been service industry jobs. Think about that for a minute. When products are not being made/created to pay for that labor, where is the money coming from?

Someone once said:it is like a giant vacuum sucking up all of the resources of the average American, middle class or other wise.

[iceman_1960]

"ROTFLMAO! I love it Iceman!

That statement made my day."
Posted by acauble1 at 07:04 PM : Apr 15, 2007

Thanks. That was not my invention, however, but that of many writers more clever than I.

Here one from USAToday.com back in August 2006:

"There's an old saying that "a rising tide lifts all boats." Popularized by President John F. Kennedy, it generally refers to how a growing economy benefits everyone.

These days, however, it might need to be revised to say: "A rising tide lifts all yachts." Or perhaps it should be retired entirely, because it no longer appears to be accurate.

That's the inescapable conclusion from Tuesday's Census Bureau report on poverty. Some 37 million Americans lived below the poverty line ($19,971 for a family of four) in 2005 %u2014 that's 4 million more than at the height of the last recession, in 2001."

[acauble1]

"A Rising Tide Lifts All Yachts"

The principle behind the Bush tax cuts.
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 06:43 PM : Apr 15, 2007


ROTFLMAO! I love it Iceman!

That statement made my day.

[omega39-2009]

Another CBS headline: "New Stats: Economy Healthier Than Thought"

Posted by Iceman_1960

Geez, I criticized the Heritage foundation on their Sunday morning show story "The squeezing of America", and six pages of posts disappeared into cyberspace......My publish button is still disabled (on that page) and it's been over half an hour

[iceman_1960]

hemorrhage

That's a tough one for a layman to spell on the fly.

[iceman_1960]

Another CBS headline: "New Stats: Economy Healthier Than Thought"

Of course.

Thought can make you sick. Look at Einstein. He died of an brain hemhhorage.