Record Number Fear Their Kids Will Be Worse Off

76% of adults think next generation will have worse life than them: poll
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2014 5:50 PM CDT
Record Number Fear Their Kids Will Be Worse Off
   (Shutterstock)

Americans are riddled with anxiety about financial prospects for their children—and the majority of them are pointing the finger at DC pols for their worries. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll of 1,000 adults found that a record 76% of them don't think today's kids will be better off than they are, reports the Journal. Of those harboring such concerns, 70% think it's Washington bigwigs, not simple economic factors, that are responsible for our money woes. "The American public is telling its elected representatives that the economic distress a significant proportion of them are feeling is directly their fault," one of the poll's administrators tells the Journal.

The president's popularity in this survey dropped to a mere 40%, and Democrats in Congress achieved a 46% "negative" rating, but the public's dissatisfaction stretches across party lines: 54% of those surveyed rated GOPers in Congress negatively as well. The doom and gloom is partly the result of stagnant wages: The median family income for 2012 hovered around $51,000—about the same as it was in 1995, adjusting for inflation, notes the US Census Bureau. "I was doing better five years ago than I'm doing now," laments an Arkansas fast-food worker to the Journal, while a Kansas land surveyor says he's worried about higher education and job prospects for his teenage son. (Read the entire Journal article for more poll results.)

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