4 in 10 say personal finances worsening: Survey

Four in 10 Americans say their personal finances are deteriorating, according to a new poll released shortly before November’s midterm elections.

In the NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll , 40 percent of people said their “personal family finances” have declined in the last 12 months, while 16 percent said the opposite.

Forty-one percent said their personal family finances have “stayed about the same” within the prior year. Less than 1 percent of poll respondents were not sure about the state of their personal family finances within the last year, while three percent didn’t give an answer.

The NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll was conducted two weeks out from Election Day, with the rise in cost of living being a major concern in this election cycle.

September saw an uptick in annual inflation for Americans, with the cost of energy, gas and electricity rising from August to September.

Democrats have campaigned on targeting the Trump administration’s tariffs and the war in Iran — two factors behind U.S. price hikes. Amid the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the oil industry, has been closed.

According to AAA , the average price of a regular gallon of gas in the U.S. has risen from about $3.05 last year to about $4.27 as of Tuesday afternoon. The average price of a gallon of diesel has risen in the last year, sitting at about $6.35 as of Tuesday afternoon compared to its $3.66 a gallon price in 2025.

In the NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll, 52 percent of respondents said they would cast their ballot for a Democrat for their congressional district if the election occurred that day, while 42 percent said the same of a Republican.

Two percent backed a third-party candidate while 1 percent were not sure about their election. Three percent of respondents did not provide an answer.

The NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll took place from Oct. 19 to 20, featuring 1,289 registered voters and plus or minus 3.7 percentage points as its margin of error.