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Republicans Upgrade Views of Their Own Financial Situation
Economy

Republicans Upgrade Views of Their Own Financial Situation

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Chart: data points are described in article

Story Highlights

  • 70% of Republicans feel good about their money, up from 44% in October
  • Democrats have become more negative
  • Americans overall are now more positive about their personal finances

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Republicans have become significantly more positive about their financial situation, while Democrats have grown more negative about theirs. Seven in 10 Republicans and Republican leaners are feeling "pretty good" about the amount of money they have to spend, up from 44% in October 2016. Meanwhile, the percentage of Democrats and Democratic leaners feeling good about their money has dropped from 66% to 51%.

More Republicans, Fewer Democrats Feel Good About Their Money

The shift in Republicans' and Democrats' feelings about their money has occurred for the most part since Donald Trump won the presidential election in November. Republicans' financial optimism grew as Democrats' fell. But it was not until February, Trump's first full month in office, that Republicans' optimism significantly outpaced Democrats'. The current pattern looks like a near-reversal of what it was during most of Barack Obama's last year in office, when a majority of Democrats vs. less than half of Republicans felt good about the money they had to spend.

These results are based on one of a series of eight personal financial questions Â鶹´«Ã½AV has asked Americans daily since 2013. This analysis looks at the results aggregated on a monthly basis.

Several other measures show the same type of shift, only with the change occurring a bit later. The percentage of Republicans who say they would be able to "make a major purchase, such as a car, appliance or furniture, or pay for a significant home repair if you needed to" -- essentially unchanged through December -- rose from 57% to 62% between December and January, and increased further in February to 71%. Democrats' views of their ability to make a major purchase have been roughly stable over the same period.

Republicans More Optimistic Than in Past About Making a Major Purchase

The percentage of Republicans who are trying to cut back on their spending has plummeted 21 points since December -- from 62% to 41%. Democrats have become more likely to say they are cutting back: 60% now compared with 51% in December.

Fewer Republicans, More Democrats Cutting Back on Weekly Spending

Republicans have also become more than twice as likely now as they were four months ago to say they are feeling better about their financial situation, while Democrats' positive responses to this question have fallen. From January to November, Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to say they were feeling better financially; now, the opposite pattern prevails.

Republicans', Democrats' Perceptions of Their Own Financial Situations Are Moving in Opposite Directions

Several of Â鶹´«Ã½AV's personal financial measures did not shift as substantially as the ones reviewed in this article. For example, high percentages of both partisan groups said before and after the election that they were watching their spending closely, and there has not been a lot of change in the percentage saying they have "more than enough money to do what you want to do." But for the most part, Republicans have become more positive about their finances and Democrats more negative as the new president has taken office.

Americans' Overall Views of Their Personal Finances Have Improved

The positive shift in Republicans' attitudes about their personal financial situations has generally been stronger than Democrats' shift in the opposite direction. As a result, Americans overall have become at least modestly more positive on a number of the personal financial measures.

For example, 59% of Americans now say they are feeling good about their money, up from 51% in September. In similar fashion, Americans -- again, driven by the attitudes of Republicans -- have become less likely to say they are cutting back on their spending, with 52% saying they are doing so now, compared with 57% each month last fall.

Implications

Trump's election as president has been associated with a rising stock market and generally more upbeat public views on the status and direction of the U.S. economy. It appears that his presidency has also enhanced Americans' optimism about their own personal financial situations, driven mostly by Republicans' sharply more positive attitudes.

These results complement other Â鶹´«Ã½AV research showing that Americans have become more positive about the -- again mainly reflecting Republicans' increased optimism. Any positive reaction to the economy or stock market among Democrats appears to have been tempered by their negative views of having a Republican, perhaps Trump in particular, as president.

These data are available in .

Survey Methods

Results for this Â鶹´«Ã½AV poll are based on telephone interviews conducted on the Â鶹´«Ã½AV U.S. Daily survey, with each personal financial question asked of a random monthly sample of approximately 3,700 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on each month's results, the margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

Learn more about how the works.


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