By Katabella Roberts
Nearly 100 percent of Americans have been affected by soaring inflation, according to a new poll from The Economist/YouGov.
The survey of 1,500 U.S. adult citizens age 18 and over was conducted between Aug. 7 and Aug. 9, 2022, and has a margin error of +/- 2.9 percent (adjusted for weighting), +/- 3 percent (registered voters).
Respondents were asked; “How much have you felt the impact of this high inflation in your own life?” to which 95 percent said it has affected them at least “a little” or “a lot—of which 56 percent said inflation has impacted them “a lot.”
Of the respondents who answered that inflation has impacted them “a lot,” an overwhelming 65 percent were aged 45–64, while 62 percent were individuals earning less than $50,000 a year.
A total of 98 percent of those who have been impacted by inflation are Republicans, while 94 percent are Democrats, according to the survey.
The survey comes as inflation reached 8.5 percent year over year in the United States in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from June’s 9.1 percent high, suggesting that rising prices appear to have slowed down month over month.
However, prices in some sectors pushed higher, such as the food at home index, which rose 1.3 percent in July and rose 13.1 percent over the last 12 months. The cost of shelter also rose both annually and monthly, climbing 5.7 percent over the year and 0.6 percent over the month, while energy is up 32.9 percent over the last year.
Households Paying Out Hundreds
Elsewhere, the electricity index increased in July, rising 1.6 percent, and 15.2 percent year over year, marking the largest 12-month increase since the period ended February 2006.
Gasoline, meanwhile, fell 7.1 percent in July, but is still up 44 percent compared with a year ago, and the fuel oil index has risen 75.6 percent.
Inflation is now costing American households an extra $717 a month, according to a new analysis from the Joint Economic Committee Republicans (JECR).
The JECR calculated the figure by comparing prices for goods and services in July versus how much they would have cost households in January 2021, when inflation was not rapidly rising and remained at historical norms of 1.4 percent.
“On average, prices did not increase from June 2022 to July 2022. However, prices have increased 13.3 percent from January 2021 to July 2022, costing the average American household $717 last month alone,” the JECR noted in a statement.
“Even if prices stop increasing altogether, the inflation that has already occurred will cost the average American household $8,607 over the next 12 months.”
In an effort to curb rising prices, House Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in a strictly party-line vote on Aug. 12, and the act is expected to be signed by President Joe Biden shortly. The IRA includes large investments toward making health care and prescription drugs more affordable, fighting climate change, and taxing large corporations and the wealthy.
When respondents were asked in the Economist/YouGov poll if they believe the IRA would increase or decrease inflation, 40 percent said they believe it will increase it, while 12 percent said it would decrease inflation. A further 23 percent said they believe the IRA will not change inflation.
