What Americans really think about the recovery

According to a Pew Report on what the American public believes has happened in the economy, “72% say that, in general, the government’s policies since the recession have done little or nothing to help middle class people, and nearly as many say they have provided little or no help for small businesses (68%) and the poor (65%). These opinions have changed little in recent years, and differ only modestly across demographic and income categories. There are significant partisan differences in these views, though majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents say that government policies following the start of the recession have done little or nothing for the poor and the middle class. Similarly, more think household incomes have recovered than did so two years ago. But while 51% say there has been a partial recovery in incomes (up from 42% in September 2013), just 4% say they have fully recovered. About four-in-ten 42% think household incomes have hardly come back from the recession.”

Many believe that banks, corporations, the wealthy have benefited from government policies since the “Great Recession.”  I personally think politicians have said very little about the poor in recent years, and increasingly emphasize the middle class not making progress.  And if they do move ahead, then they complain about a gap.

“The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted February 18-22, 2015 among a national sample of 1,504 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (526 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 978 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 559 who had no landline telephone).”