A new Gallup poll reveals that more than half of Americans feel worse off financially than they did four years ago.
The survey, released on Oct. 18, found that 52 percent of U.S. adults believe their financial situation has deteriorated since 2020, while 39 percent feel they are better off.
A similar Gallup poll taken at the tail end of the Trump presidency in September 2020 found this sentiment roughly reversed, with 56 percent saying they were better off and 33 percent saying they were worse off than four years prior.
Partisan divides were stark in the latest poll, with 90 percent of Republicans feeling worse off, compared to just 16 percent of Democrats. Crucially, 55 percent of Independents, a pivotal voting bloc in the close 2024 presidential race, feel worse off, with 35 percent saying their financial situation has improved.
The economic confidence index, tracked by Gallup, has been predominantly negative over the course of the Biden administration. In 2022, it reached lows not seen since the 2007–2009 recession, largely due to inflation hitting a 40-year high.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee for the coming election, has blamed President Joe Biden’s policies for inflation and what he calls economic stagnation.
On the campaign trail, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has been emphasizing the Biden administration’s economic recovery efforts.
“Still, we know that many Americans don’t yet feel that progress in their daily lives,” Harris said. “Costs are still too high. And on a deeper level, for too many people, no matter how much they work, it feels so hard to just be able to get ahead.” […]
— Read More: www.theepochtimes.com
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
