All income groups feeling economic pain from inflation: survey

High inflation is increasingly creating major strains on all Americans, including those with higher incomes than others, according to a Wall Street Journal poll.

The poll, which was conducted for the paper by John Anzalone and Tony Fabrizio, the chief pollsters for President Biden and former President Trump, respectively, found that 26 percent of registered voters with household incomes between $100,001 and $150,000 said inflation is creating major financial strains for their families.

That figure is up from 19 percent in August and 14 percent in March. 

The share of Americans with household incomes $150,001 and higher who reported major financial strains because of inflation remained stable compared to August but rose significantly from March.

Fifty-four percent of Americans with household incomes of $60,000 or less also indicated major financial strains, up from 51 percent in August and 47 percent in March.

Annual inflation hit a 40-year high earlier this year before softening in recent months. But price gains remain at elevated levels, and the monthly consumer price index has risen at an increasing pace for the past two consecutive months.

Like many other surveys, inflation clocked in as the top issue for voters in the poll. 

Thirty-four percent said it was the issue that made them the most likely to vote, and more than half ranked it as either their No. 1 or No. 2 issue.

Elevated price gains have caused political headaches for Democrats as they attempt to maintain their razor-thin majorities in Congress. Republicans have released a barrage of attacks on the issue during the campaign.

Forty-eight percent of registered voters in the poll said they trusted Republicans in Congress more to handle inflation, the highest level recorded in the last four surveys, which span the course of the past year.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents in the new poll trusted Democrats more to get inflation under control.

The poll was conducted with 1,500 registered voters, who were reached by phone and text from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for the full sample.