Financial Hope Vs. Financial Reality

Americans are more optimistic than pessimistic about their finances, as you can see by the chart below. One might wonder why that’s the case, though, after looking more closely at ongoing Associated Press/Ipsos-Public Affairs polls on the matter. Six months ago, nearly identical numbers of respondents thought their finances would improve six months hence. And they thought the same six months before that, in polling fielded in October 2003. The catch, of course, is that reality never fully catches up with these rosy predictions.