American Middle Class Slipping Behind Leans Toward Obama
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The middle class is shrinking and is now barely a majority in the U.S., underscoring the challenge President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney face as they argue over who can best protect the wealth of struggling Americans.
The proportion of middle-income earners, or those making from $39,000 to $118,000 for a family of three, narrowed over the decade as the housing-market crash erased more than 20 years of gains in wealth and average incomes fell for the first time since World War II, according to a Pew Research Center report released today. The middle class shrank to 51 percent of adults in 2011 from 61 percent in 1971.