The Wealthiest Americans Are More Likely to Be Dissatisfied With the Economy Than the Poorest

When it comes to how the wealthiest and poorest Americans view the economy, there really isn't much daylight between them.

A new poll out Thursday from Quinnipiac shows that Americans making $100,000 or more disapprove of President Obama's handling 57-41 percent, while Americans making $50,000 or less disapprove by a margin of 52-43 percent. Those numbers pretty closely align with the total for the U.S., with 55 percent disapproving of the president's handling and 41 percent approving.

So if you're one of the few, lucky people in the top 10 percent or so of the country to be earning $100,000 or more annually? Congratulations, you're likely as unhappy as everyone else. Actually, you're slightly less happy.

The results in the new poll are similar for the more general question, "How satisfied are you with the way things are going in the nation today?" Results here:

The numbers for the wealthiest and poorest Americans are almost identical. Aside from, interestingly, the 5 percent of Americans making less than $50,000 who are "very satisfied" with the state of the nation, as opposed to the 1 percent of Americans who earn $100,000 or more. The economic results largely mirror those for the total population, where 3 percent of Americans are "very satisfied" and 40 percent are "very dissatisfied." 

The "satisfaction" numbers have one particularly fun twist: While many more Democrats responded that they are very or somewhat satisfied (58 percent) than Republicans (10 percent), there was still a striking 1 percent of Republicans who responded that they were "very satisfied" with the way things are going in the country. Who are these Republicans? If you're one of them and you're reading this, please give us a call.

The Quinnipiac poll was conducted from June 28-July 8, surveyed 2,014 registered voters over land lines and cell phones, and has a margin of error of 2.2 percent.