Midwesterners had the most pessimistic view of how their personal finances changed over the past 12 months compared with residents of other parts of the country, according to a new Hill.TV poll.
The survey conducted by Hill.TV and the HarrisX polling company found that 28 percent of respondents from the Midwest said they were better off financially compared to 2017, with 22 percent saying they were worse off.
Twenty-eight percent of Western respondents also said their financial situation had improved, but only 17 percent said it had worsened.
Thirty-eight percent of Northeast residents said they were better off now, with 23 percent saying they were worse off.
Thirty-seven percent of Southerners said their financial situation was better off, while 19 percent said it was worse off.
The American Barometer poll was conducted online Sept. 14-15 among 1,000 registered voters. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
President Trump has credited recent economic gains to the administration’s policies. But despite his victories in Midwest states during the 2016 election, voters are less likely to say their economic situations have improved.
“A lot of Americans, especially in areas that have struggled even prior to 2008 with some of the manufacturing struggles in the Midwest, say, ‘Even when things are going well, they’re always waiting for what’s going to come around the corner because I’ve heard this before,'” Republican pollster Jim Hobart, partner at Public Opinion Strategies, said Thursday on Hill.TV’s “What America’s Thinking.”
— Julia Manchester
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