Poll: Middle-Class Shrinking In Size And Wealth

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – After more than a decade of tax cuts, trickle-down economics, runaway government spending, wars, and ballooning deficits and debts, the middle class is poorer and has a lower income than they did in the 1990's according to a new Pew survey.

According to the Pew Research Center for Social and Demographic Trends, median household income dropped from $72,956 to $69,487 a year while the median household's net work dropped 28 percent to $93,150.

The drop in mean family incomes from Americans in all income tiers was the first for a decade since the end of World War II. However, the middle-class is the only one that shrank in size, which has continued over the past 40 years.

The Pew study found 85 percent of self-described middle-class adults said it is more difficult to maintain their standard of living than it was in the 1990's.

So where does the middle-class lay the blame for the rapidly disappearing American dream?

Sixty-two percent said "a lot" of the blame lies with Congress, while 54 percent said the same about banks and financial institutions. Forty-seven percent said big corporations were to blame while 44 percent blamed the George W. Bush administration.

Thirty-nine percent said the decline in the middle-class was due to foreign competition and 34 percent said it was the fault of the Obama administration.

When it comes to the election, 52 percent of middle-class adults said Obama's policies favor them, while 62 percent said they favor poor people. Seventy-one percent of middle-class Americans surveyed said Romney's policies would help the richest people the most.

But, regardless of who gets in office, the middle-class hope for the future is quickly fading as well. The poll found that just 43 percent of middle-class adults thought the next generation will be better, while 21 percent said it would be the same, and 26 percent said it would get worse.