Record share of Americans are ‘suffering,’ Gallup says

The share of Americans who rate their lives so poorly they are considered to be “suffering” is climbing, according to a Gallup survey that says economic stress from inflation and worry over moral values is fueling the problem.

The pollsters said the share of people considered to be suffering reached 5.6% in July, the highest mark since Gallup began measuring the concept in 2008 with its Life Evaluation Index.

The survey asks people to rate their lives on a 0 to 10 scale so they can be classified as “thriving,” “struggling” or “suffering.”

Those who grade their current and future lives as 4 or below are considered to be suffering, while those who give their current lives at least a 7 and future lives an 8 or higher are thriving.

The share of people estimated to be thriving is steadily decreasing from a record high of 59.2% in June 2021 to 51.2% and suffering rates are increasing among Democrats, Republicans and independents, Gallup said.

The suffering rate of 5.6% translates to 14 million U.S. adults, the pollsters said.

“Economic conditions are likely a major contributing factor to these worsening scores,” pollsters said. “Despite the addition of 528,000 new jobs in July, persistently high inflation is creating a drag on the Gallup Economic Confidence Index, which is now at its lowest point since the Great Recession in 2009. And even though the Consumer Price Index eased to 8.5% in July — triggering relief among many investors — inflation remains near a 40-year high and is the problem Americans cite most often today in an open-ended question.”

Gallup said economic headwinds are combined with rising discontent with U.S. moral values.

A record high of 50% of Americans say the state of moral values is “poor” and 37% believe they are “fair,” a “sentiment that could be negatively influencing life ratings generally,” pollsters said.