Personal Finances Continue To Tread Water: 29% Say Finances Getting Better, 31% Say Worse

Publication Date: 03/04/2026 5:00 AM CST

Personal Finances Continue To Tread Water: 29% Say Finances Getting Better, 31% Say Worse

Publication: 03/04/2026 5:00 AM CST

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Twenty-nine percent (29%) of voters say their personal finances are getting better, 1 point up from 2 weeks ago.
- Conversely, 31% say their finances are getting worse, 2 points higher than 2 weeks ago.
- Over the last 6 months, these numbers have stayed close to breaking even, with the exception of the intense negativity during the government shutdown in 2025.
From July 2021 until just before the 2024 election, more people were pessimistic than optimistic about their finances in every survey.
- The current perceptions are among the least pessimistic in nearly 5 years.
- However, as Scott Rasmussen noted recently, "People are feeling much better about their finances than they did under President Biden, but they were hoping for more under President Trump."
Forty-one percent (41%) of voters rate their personal finances as Good or Excellent, the same as 2 weeks ago and down 4 points from a month ago.
- In early November, ratings on personal finances as Good or Excellent were at 37%, the lowest since President Trump took office.
- A fifth (20%) of voters rate their finances as Poor, down 4 points from two weeks ago and down 1 point from the 21% in January.
- When President Biden took office in 2021, 48% of voters rated their personal finances as Good or Excellent.
- By the time President Trump took office in 2025, those rating their finances as Good or Excellent had fallen to 36%.
- A majority of Republicans (53%) say their finances are Good or Excellent, but only 36% of Democrats say the same.
- Likewise, a majority (61%) of voters who talk politics every or nearly every day rate their finances as Good or Excellent.

This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, March 2-3, 2026. RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.