Are you better off today than 4 years ago? New Bloomberg survey – Most Americans Say Yes

“Are you better off than you were four years ago?  The country was headed towards financial meltdown, and today we’re not even close to the cliff so I’d have to say as a whole, Americans are better off today than they were four years ago.  Now, a new survey from Bloomberg reports that a plurality of Americans say “Yes, we are better off today than we were four years ago.”

From the story:

Forty-five percent of those surveyed in a Bloomberg National Poll say they are better off than at the beginning of 2009 compared with 36 percent who say they are worse off. In March, poll respondents split almost evenly on that question after having been decidedly negative since the aftermath of the worst recession in seven decades.

“I’m just tired of the doom and gloom,” says Jim Seeley, 52, a mortgage banker in Traverse City, Michigan, and a poll respondent, in a follow-up interview. “I think it’s looking better. People just need to stay positive.”

The poll, conducted June 15-18, contains more unlikely cheer for the president, with larger numbers of respondents saying their household income is higher than a year ago. While 44 percent say they are treading water, the better off outnumbered the worse off by 28 percent to 22 percent.

The share saying they are making substantial purchases they had been delaying, dining out more often, or taking deferred vacations all rose compared with March 2011. Seeley and his wife are among them. Earlier this year, the couple went on a seven-day cruise in the Gulf of Mexico, joining 27 percent of respondents who say they are taking postponed trips compared with 20 percent in March 2011

The survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

Also from the story, Obama’s policies score higher points than Romney’s:

Even with the run of bad reports, Americans say they prefer Obama’s economic vision to that of his presumptive Republican rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, by a margin of 49 percent to 33 percent. That finding reflects a 7-percentage-point gain for Obama since March and an equal loss for his opponent, identified then as “Republicans” and in this survey as Romney.

“You don’t just trust the private sector to do the right thing,” says Chris Howell, 23, who works at a nonprofit organization in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Obama’s policies are better suited to providing “long-term solutions” for the economy’s problems, he added.

 

8 Comments

  1. Its too bad that the worst off people lost their telephone for lack of payment and therefore unavailble to answer the survey call.

  2. If people are so much better off than they were 4 years ago, why are 46.5 million Americans on food stamps?

    4 years ago 29 million Americans needed food stamps.

    I doubt those 17.5 million Americans would call themselves better off…

  3. Was this the Bloomberg poll that got debunked for it’s overuse of Democrats in the poll?

    Really, to think half the country is better off today is scary. If driving down the streets of your town and seeing all the closed businesses doesn’t give you a clue nothing will.

  4. All the have nots sucking off the system are doing better today. Those people paying for the have nots freebies are not doing better.

    Why do you think we are broke.

    • we are broke because Bush cut takes while waging two wars .. that’s never been done in our history.
      We are paying less taxes today as a percentage of our income than we did in the 1950s. The military budget continues to climb…energy costs continue to climb…healthcare has doubled in 10 years.

  5. No, I am not better today than four years ago. Now i’m in sme welfare and I ashame of that, my partners is not able to find a job yet , and MOORE AMERICAN that EVER ARE on WELFARE NOW, so I, and WE are not better today than four years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!.Thanks Obama and the new era of Slaves receiving the “help” of the patron! as welfare is!.

  6. The facts are that by most measures, Americans have fallen behind under Obama. Here are the facts:

    More unemployed: As of May, there were almost 700,000 more people out of work than in January 2009, and the unemployment rate is higher — 8.2% vs. 7.8%. There are also 2.7 million more long-term unemployed — those who’ve been out of work for 27 weeks or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    More discouraged workers: The number of “discouraged workers” — people who believe no job is available — is still 100,000 bigger than when Obama took office. There are also more people working part-time because they can’t find full-time jobs, and millions more who aren’t in the labor force at all.

    And the stunner fact:
    Lower weekly earnings: US Government Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that real median weekly earnings have dropped 3% during Obama’s time in the White House.

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