Majority Believe Lives Improved During Reagan Years, Poll Finds
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WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans say they are better off now than when President Reagan took office but believe the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, said a poll released on Sunday.
The poll, conducted by USA Today and the Cable News Network for publication on the eve of Reagan’s State of the Union address, found that 53% of those polled said their personal situation was better.
Twenty-nine percent said their status was about the same now as it was before Reagan took office in 1981 and 17% said they were worse off.
But half of those polled said they believe America’s poor are worse off than at the start of the Reagan presidency and nearly three-quarters, 72%, said the rich are better off.
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