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COUNTRY Financial reports that a survey conducted immediately after the U.S. election found 55% of Americans rated their their financial security positively this year, nearly unchanged from surveys conducted in August and April.
This is two percentage points higher than the number recorded in October 2019 before the pandemic surged in the U.S. It is also significantly higher than the number in 2016, 46%, and the number in both 2012 and 2008, 44%.
Two in five Americans in the new survey said their financial security was fair or poor.
"There are many reasons Americans could be feeling good about their financial futures right now," Troy Frerichs, vice president of investment services at COUNTRY Financial, said in a statement. "Savings rates have gone up, we are hearing positive news about a COVID-19 vaccine and the stock market is at an all-time high."
Ipsos fielded the online survey from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6 among 1,015 U.S. adults, using the KnowledgePanel as the sample source.
Pandemic and the Election
Americans endured a pandemic, a volatile election and natural disasters in 2020, but 40% of respondents said the pandemic has had the greatest effect on their feelings about their finances, followed by 30% who said the election results.
About one in five said neither of these events had affected their feelings about their financial situation.
Asked how much the pandemic has affected their feelings of financial security over the last year, half of respondents say it has not affected them, while a third feel it has had a negative effect.
