Almost 4 in 10 worried about paying bills: Survey

Story at a glance

• A new CNN poll found that roughly four in 10 adults fear they don’t earn enough money to make ends meet.

• That is a significant jump from three years ago when 28 percent of people expressed those same worries.

• Most Americans believe that the result of this year’s presidential election will determine if their financial situation improves or worsens, the poll also found.

More Americans fear their income isn’t enough to pay their bills.

About four in 10 U.S. adults say they worry most or all of the time that their family’s income isn’t enough to meet their expenses, according to a new CNN poll.

That’s more than a 10-percentage point increase from December 2021 when 28 percent of U.S. adults expressed those same concerns, according to the 2,021-person poll.

To make ends meet Americans are cutting back on how much they spend on entertainment, food and gas or are using credit cards more often to pay for these expenses.

About 69 percent of people said they’ve had to reduce the amount of money they spend on “extras and entertainment” while 68 percent said they have had to change the groceries they buy to afford necessities, according to the poll.

Another 37 percent of Americans have had to take on credit card debt to pay afford necessities like food and 35 percent said that they have taken on extra work or a second job to make ends meet.

Slightly fewer Americans are cutting back on spending in some areas though than they were last summer due to inflation.

In 2022, 70 percent of Americans said that they had to cut back on extras and entertainment to afford necessities while 71 percent said they had to change what groceries they purchased.

Inflation in the U.S. reached a roughly thirty-year high of 9.1 percent in June 2022 causing the price of food, energy and other goods to go up.

The inflation rate fell to 3 percent in June 2023 but oscillated between 3.1 percent and 3.7 percent throughout the following 11 months, according to AP analysis.

Inflation fell to 3 percent again in June of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But despite inflation cooling, rising prices are at the top of many Americans’ minds with 26 percent of people believing that it is the biggest economic problem facing their family today, according to the CNN poll.

In total though, 65 percent of Americans believe that some expense or cost of living is the biggest economic problem facing their family today. That could include inflation, the price of groceries, gas, health insurance or housing among other things.

Most Americans — 57 percent — also think that the result of this year’s presidential election will impact their family’s financial situation.

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