Less than half of Americans upbeat about personal finances: Gallup

Forty-four percent of U.S. adults said they are financially "better off" than they were a year ago, while 35 percent said things have gotten worse, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

Americans' evaluation of their financial standings slightly dipped compared with last year, but was still much higher than the level seen during the financial crisis.

This coincides with the status of the U.S. economy, which are well above what they have been for most of the last decade, but not quite as positive as they were at this time last year, Gallup found.

The result reflects progress in certain measures of the U.S. economy such unemployment rate, which have been on the decline in recent years.

As they have been for the past few decades, Americans who are optimistic about their financial future make up the biggest chunk in the poll, according to Gallup.

Another 21 percent say their financial situation stayed the same.

This year-on-year financial assessment is slightly less positive than what Americans reported in 2015, when 47 percent said they were better off and 28 percent worse off. But it is much rosier than the mostly negative assessments recorded between 2008 and early 2012, said Gallup.

Since Gallup began polling on this question in the 1970s, Americans' financial assessments have fluctuated, usually along with the health of the U.S. economy.

Over the years, only a handful of polls have found a majority of Americans saying they were "better off" than the previous year, including those during the dot-com boom from 1998 to 2000, Gallup found.

Americans were fairly negative at points in the early 1980s and in 1991-1992, when close to half said they were worse off. But they were most negative about their financial situations between 2008 and 2012 -- including majorities of 55 percent and 54 percent saying they were worse off in 2008 and 2009, as the recession ended and Americans reeled from its effects.

Though Americans are relatively buoyant in their views of their personal financial standing overall, several demographic groups are much less likely to say their standing has improved, Gallup found.

Americans younger than 35 years old remain the most positive group in their year-on-year financial assessments, with two in three saying they are better off. Meanwhile, a majority of employed Americans say they are better off (58 percent) this year than last -- twice as high as the positive reports from adults who are not employed (29 percent). And the more Americans earn, the more likely they are to say they are in better financial standing compared with the prior year, Gallup said.

Among political parties, a majority of Democrats say they are better off (55 percent) -- much higher than their independent (41 percent) and Republican (36 percent) counterparts, Gallup found. Endi