71% of Americans Say GOP Policies Eroded Middle-Class Security
Updated
Updated · AlterNet · Aug 5
71% of Americans Say GOP Policies Eroded Middle-Class Security
1 articles · Updated · AlterNet · Aug 5
Summary
A July 2026 CNN/SSRS poll found 71% of Americans say Trump has not gone far enough to lower everyday prices, reflecting a broader sense that middle-class security has deteriorated.
Pew data cited in the report shows the share of Americans in middle-income households fell to 51% in 2023 from 61% in 1971, but the report argues income alone now masks weaker financial stability.
Washington Post and Federal Reserve-based measures paint a harsher picture: only about a third of Americans met key middle-class markers such as steady work, savings, bill-paying capacity and health coverage, with 32% to 40% meeting all six since 2017.
Brookings and the OECD similarly define the middle class by resilience—home ownership, emergency capacity, retirement savings and mobility—supporting the report’s claim that many middle-income households no longer enjoy a traditionally middle-class life.
The report attributes that decline to decades of Reagan-era and broader GOP policies on unions, taxes and social programs, arguing they shifted wealth upward and hollowed out single-paycheck middle-class security.