Oldest Americans Say Life Has Been Bad Last Five
Years and Not Going to Get Much Better
Harris Poll finds more people believe their lives
would be better under Obama than under McCain, but not senior citizens
Oct.
28, 2008 A new survey taken October 16 and 20 by Harris Interactive
and released today by The Harris Poll reveals senior citizens as an
unhappy lot they are the most likely age group to think their lives
have become worse in the last five years and the least likely to think
it is going to get any better. Despite the daily deluge of bad economic
news, most Americans disagree with the oldest age group, which Harris
calls the Matures those age 62 or older.
Overall, Americans are satisfied with the lives
they lead, reports Harris. Over nine in ten (93%) say they are
satisfied, including two-thirds (65%) who are very satisfied, with their
lives and only 7% are not satisfied. This question was not scored by age
group.
On the question of how has your life changed in the
last five years, most say it has improved (42%) or stayed the same
(29%). About 28% said it has become worse. This is a drop from last
year, when 54% said their lives were better and just 17% said it was
worse.
Looking ahead five years, just over half of
Americans (56%) expect their personal situation to improve while three
in ten (30%) say it will stay about the same and 10% believe it will get
worse. In 2007, three in five adults (62%) believed their situation
would improve in five years.
The difference between the seniors and the younger
age groups is dramatic on the question of how their lives have changed
in the last five years.
Among all adults including the Matures 42% say
things have improved. Yet, only 22% of Matures think their lives are
better. The only other age group that has less than a majority giving a
positive response were the Baby Boomers (ages 43-61) 36%.
Present Life Situation Compared to Five Years
Ago
"If you compare your present situation with five
years ago, would you say it has improved, stayed about the same or got
worse?"
Total
Generation
Echo
Boomers (18-30)
Gen X
(31-42)
Baby
Boomers (43-61)
Matures
(62+)
%
%
%
%
%
Improved
42
60
51
36
22
Stayed
about the same
29
17
24
32
45
Got worse
28
21
25
31
33
Not
sure/ Dont know
1
1
-
*
*
Note: Percentages may
not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
* Less than 0.5% "-" No response
When the question changes to looking ahead at how
life will change in the next five years, the Matures are slightly more
optimistic 30% think things will be better. But, that is far below the
average a big 56% think things will get better.
The younger people are, the more likely they are to
believe that their situation will improve in five years. Over four in
five (84%) of Echo Boomers believe their personal situation will improve
compared to just 30% of Matures.
Only 10% of all adults think things will get worse
in the next five years, but the oldest Americans are almost twice as
pessimistic, with 19% expecting things to get worse.
Expected Personal Situation in Five Years
"In the course of the next five years, do you
expect your personal situation to improve, to stay about the same or to
get worse?"
Total
Generation
Echo
Boomers (18-30)
Gen X
(31-42)
Baby
Boomers (43-61)
Matures
(62+)
%
%
%
%
%
Improve
56
84
61
49
30
Stay
about the same
30
13
29
37
44
Get worse
10
3
7
10
19
Not
sure/ Dont know
3
1
3
4
6
Note: Percentages may
not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
"-" No response
Harris also asked if these Americans think life
would be better with a President McCain or a President Obama and the
seniors pretty well mirrored other election polls that show them almost
evenly split.
In this Harris Poll, 38% of seniors said they think
things would be better with McCain and 37% said with Obama. As usual,
the older people are out of step with the younger Americans among all
adults 44% said life would be better with Obama and only 29% said McCain
offered the best future.
Better Life Under McCain or Obama
"When it comes to the life you lead, how much
difference do you think there would be over the next four years
depending on who is elected president?"
Total
Generation
Political Party
Echo
Boomers (18-30)
Gen X
(31-42)
Baby
Boomers (43-61)
Matures
(62+)
Rep.
Dem.
Ind.
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
BETTER
WITH OBAMA (Net)
44
56
37
42
37
9
76
42
Definitely better with Obama
20
29
13
18
17
5
37
18
Probably
better with Obama
23
27
23
23
20
4
40
24
BETTER
WITH MCCAIN (Net)
29
14
37
32
38
68
6
22
Probably
better with McCain
18
9
27
19
16
37
5
16
Definitely better with McCain
12
4
9
13
23
31
1
6
No
difference who is elected
24
28
23
23
26
21
16
33
Worse
with both
*
-
-
*
-
-
*
-
Not
sure/ Dont know
3
3
4
2
1
1
1
2
Note: Percentages may
not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
"-" No response
Methodology
The Harris Pollฎ
was conducted by telephone within the United States between October 16
and 20, 2008 among a nationwide cross section of 1,010 adults (aged 18
and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults,
number of voice/telephone lines in the household, region and size of
place were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual
proportions in the population.
All sample surveys
and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to
multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify
or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated
with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response
options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris
Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading.
All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with
different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100%
response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls
come close to this ideal.
Oct.
28, 2008 A new survey taken October 16 and 20 by Harris Interactive
and released today by The Harris Poll reveals senior citizens as an
unhappy lot they are the most likely age group to think their lives
have become worse in the last five years and the least likely to think
it is going to get any better. Despite the daily deluge of bad economic
news, most Americans disagree with the oldest age group, which Harris
calls the Matures those age 62 or older.
