Despite an extended period of economic difficulty, Pew Research Center pollsters Andrew Kohut and Michael Dimock show that Americans’ core values and beliefs about economic opportunity, and the nation’s economic outlook, remain largely optimistic and unchanged. There is also little evidence that economic class is becoming a greater factor in shaping American values than in the past. Americans are certain that the nation can solve its problems, that hard work ultimately pays off, and that income divides are an acceptable part of a healthy economy. But they increasingly see a lack of fairness in public policies that are failing to promote economic opportunity.

Download the full paper published by the Council on Foreign Relations.

A Pew Research Center analysis of government data found that, since 2000, the middle class shrunk in size, fell backward in income and wealth, and shed some — but not all — of its characteristic faith in the future.

An overwhelming majority of self-described middle-class adults said in a survey conducted in July 2012 that it was more difficult today than a decade ago to maintain their standard of living.

A majority of middle-class adults who say it’s more difficult for them today put the most blame on Congress and banks and financial institutions.

One group that the middle class does not hold responsible for its economic problems: the middle class itself. Only 8% of middle-class people said the middle class bears “a lot” of the blame.

There were demographic differences among middle-class adults when it came to whom they assigned blame. Among these: Men were more likely than women to blame Congress for the economic woes of the middle class. Young middle-class adults were significantly less likely than older generations to say that Congress was the major cause of middle-class economic problems. Blacks were more likely than whites to put the blame on large corporations.

Along partisan lines, both Republicans (58%) and Democrats (63%) said Congress bore “a lot” of the blame for the economic troubles of the middle class. However, 59% of middle-class Democrats blamed large corporations while only 27% of Republicans did so.

Middle-class adults are somewhat more likely to say the Democrats rather than the Republicans favor their interests.

Only about a quarter to a third of the middle class say that Republicans (26%) or Democrats (37%) primarily favor middle-class interests over the rich or poor.

When it comes to party identification, only about a third of all middle-class adults identify as Democrats (34%) while a smaller share are Republicans (25%). About a third (35%) say they are independents. About four-in-ten (39%) consider themselves conservative, 35% say they are moderates and 22% identify as liberals.

See “The Lost Decade of the Middle Class,” Aug. 22, 1012

During the 2012 presidential campaign, President Obama and Mitt Romney were seen as equally likely to help the middle class.

In a survey conducted in July 2012, Obama had held an advantage over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among voters when it came to which candidate’s policies would better help the middle class. But in an early October poll, the two were almost evenly matched on this measure.

Romney’s gains on the question of how his policies would affect the middle class came largely from upper-income voters. Voters in lower-income households did not change their view of whether Romney would help the middle class.

Read our signature report The Lost Decade of the Middle Class.

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The percentage of Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower class has risen from a quarter of the adult population to about a third in the past four years, according to a national survey of 2,508 adults by the Pew Research Center.

Not only has the lower class grown, but its demographic profile also has shifted. People younger than 30 are disproportionately swelling the ranks of the self-defined lower classes. The shares of Hispanics and whites who place themselves in the lower class also are growing.

The survey finds that hard times have been particularly hard on the lower class. Eight-in-ten adults (84%) in the lower classes say they had to cut back spending in the past year because money was tight, compared with 62% who say they are middle class and 41% who say they are in the upper classes. Those in the lower classes also say they are less happy and less healthy, and the stress they report experiencing is more than other adults.

As they look to their own future and that of their children, many in the lower class see their prospects dimming. About three-quarters (77%) say it’s harder now to get ahead than it was 10 years ago. Only half (51%) say that hard work brings success, a view expressed by overwhelming majorities of those in the middle (67%) and upper classes (71%). While the expectation that each new generation will surpass their parents is a central tenet of the American Dream, those lower classes are significantly more likely than middle or upper-class adults to believe their children will have a worse standard of living than they do.

Americans believe that having a secure job is by far the most important requirement for being in the middle class, easily trumping homeownership and a college education, according to a new nationwide Pew Research Center survey of 2,508 adults.

Nearly nine-in-ten adults (86%) say a person needs a secure job to be considered part of the middle class, while just 45% say the same about owning a home, 37% about a college education and 28% about financial investments.

Of the five items tested in the survey question, the only other one seen as essential to a middle-class lifestyle by a majority of the public is health insurance-which for many Americans comes through one’s job. Two-thirds of adults say it’s an essential ticket to a middle-class life.
The public’s view about what it takes to be in the middle class appears to have changed dramatically over the past two decades. In a 1991 nationwide Time/CNN/Yankelovich survey, seven-in-ten respondents said homeownership was essential to being in the middle class, while just one-third said the same about having “a white collar job.”

Read more reports on the Middle Class:

The Lost Decade of the Middle Class

Yes, the Rich Are Different

As Republicans gather for their national convention in Tampa to nominate a presidential candidate known, in part, as a wealthy businessman, a new nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds that many Americans believe the rich are different than other people. They are viewed as more intelligent and more hardworking but also greedier and less honest.

Nearly six-in-ten survey respondents (58%) also say the rich pay too little in taxes, while 26% say they pay their fair share, and just 8% say they pay too much. Even among those who describe themselves as upper or upper-middle class1, 52% say upper-income Americans don’t pay enough in taxes.

In spite of these views, overwhelming majorities of self-described middle- and lower-class Americans say they admire people who get rich by working hard (92% and 84%, respectively).

The new survey, which was conducted July 16-26, 2012, among 2,508 adults nationwide, finds that a majority of the public (65%) thinks the nation’s income gap between rich and poor has grown in the past decade-and most say that’s a bad thing for the country.

The survey also finds that the gap between rich and poor goes far beyond income. Adults who self-identify as being in the upper or upper-middle class are generally happier, healthier and more satisfied with their jobs than are those in the middle or lower classes. And they are much less likely to have suffered economic hardships as a result of the recession.
In addition, those in the upper class are more satisfied than those in the middle or lower classes with their family life, their housing situation and their education. Upper-class Americans even report experiencing less stress. Only 29% of those in the upper class say they frequently experience stress, compared with 37% of those in the middle class and 58% of lower-class adults.

As the 2012 presidential candidates prepare their closing arguments to America’s middle class, they are courting a group that has endured a lost decade for economic well-being. Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some — but by no means all — of its characteristic faith in the future, according to a new Pew Research survey and analysis of data from U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

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Fully 85% of Americans who describe themselves as middle class say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living. This downbeat take comes at the end of a decade in which mean family incomes declined for Americans overall for the first time since the end of World War II. But the middle-income tier – defined as all adults with annual household incomes that are two-thirds to double the national median — is the only one that also shrunk in size, a trend that has continued for four decades.

In 2011, the middle-income tier included 51% of all adults, down from 61% in 1971. This has been accompanied by a dispersion of the population into the economic tiers both above and below, with slightly more moving into the upper tier. But only the upper tier has increased its share of the nation’s total household income. In 2010, the upper tier took in 46% of the nation’s household income, up from 29% in 1970. The middle tier took in 45%, down from 62%. The lower tier dropped to 9% from 10%.

Appeals to the beleaguered middle class have been at the heart of the 2012 presidential campaign. The new Pew Research survey, conducted from July 16 to July 26, finds that neither candidate has closed the deal with this group, but that President Obama is in somewhat better shape than his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

The survey also finds that the middle class blames Congress more than any of the institutions or entities tested in this survey for its hard economic times in the last decade.

These are among the principal findings from the Pew Research analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Bank trend data, as well as a new nationwide Pew Research survey of more than 2,500 adults, including 1,287 who describe themselves as middle class.

Read the full report.