May 17, 2012
More Americans than ever now say they're less in debt than they were this time last year, but a plurality still expects higher interest rates in the near future.
Forty percent (40%) of adults now say they owe less money than they did a year ago, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That's up seven points from last month and is the highest finding since tracking on the question began in April 2009.
Twenty-four percent (24%) still say they owe more money than a year ago, and one-in-three (32%) owe about as much as they did this time last year. These numbers are generally in line with findings for the past few years. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The survey of 1,000 American Adults nationwide was conducted on May 11-12, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.