Poll: Half say their finances are better since 2008

Half of Americans in a new survey say their finances have improved over the last eight years.

About 50 percent believe their fortunes have risen since President Obama’s election in 2008, Gallup reported.

{mosads}Another 42 percent said they are not better off, pollsters found, while 6 percent said they are just as well off and 2 percent had no opinion.

Respondents also offered mixed reactions on their financial progress during the last eight years, pollsters said.

About 50 percent have actively saved money since 2008, Gallup found, contrasted with 48 percent who have not.

Roughly 13 percent said they are “saving a lot,” with 37 percent “saving a little” and 27 percent “making ends meet.”

Another 8 percent are “drawing on their savings,” while 13 percent, meanwhile, are “running into debt.”

Gallup also reported Thursday that the percentage of Americans spending their savings or assuming debt is the highest since the economic recession in 2008.

About 16 percent admitted to those actions in 2002, the polling agency said, the last year it asked the question before the financial meltdown.

The number of Americans saving or making ends meet has also decreased since that year, pollsters added Thursday.

About 47 percent said they were “saving a lot or a little” in 2002, while 35 percent revealed they were “making ends meet.”

Gallup’s latest survey of 1,022 adults via telephone interviews, conducted Jan. 21–25, has a 4 percentage point margin of error.