The number of Americans deemed to be “suffering” reached a record high this year, according to a new Gallup poll.
SO WHAT
President Biden’s declaration that inflation is under control and he’s got a handle on the economy is small consolation to the many Americans still feeling the pain of high prices.
THE NUMBERS
The Gallup poll released last month found 5.6% of Americans reported being in so much distress that they qualified as “suffering,” the most since the polling organization began its “Life Evaluation Index” in 2008.
According to Gallup, “persistently high inflation” was a major driver of the suffering.
- The feeling that current circumstances are grim cuts across the aisle: among both Republicans and Democrats the suffering rate has virtually doubled since June 2021, per Gallup.
MORE NUMBERS
The number of American adults who reported living paycheck to paycheck rose by five percentage points in July 2022 compared to the same month in 2021, according to PYMNTS, while the number of renters likely facing eviction in the next two months is up 6% over the same time period, per the U.S. Census Bureau.
- More than 20 million households were behind on their utility payments at the end of August, a “historic” figure according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, with total arrears topping $16 billion, up from $8.1 billion at the end of 2019.
- More Americans reported not having enough to eat in July than any month since December 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Census Bureau.
- Food prices were 13.1% higher in July 2022 than the previous year, while rent costs rose 5.7% year over year.
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE
The White House took a victory lap in August following the announcement that annualized inflation ticked down to 8.5% in July from 9.1% in June, with President Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre all claiming that inflation was at “zero” in July.
- In June Biden claimed that the U.S. was “the fastest growing economy in the world,” amid the second quarter in a row of economic contraction, the traditional definition of a recession.