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About half of American adults have no retirement account beyond Social Security, 4 in 10 dont have a credit card, and 1 in 5 lack a checking account.

Statistics like that paint a picture of the widespread nature of financial insecurity in the U.S. The numbers, from an in-depth study by the Pew Research Center, also provide significant information about politics.

Americans who are most financially secure were, by a large margin, the most likely to have voted this last fall, the study found. They were also the most likely to favor Republicans.

By contrast, Americans whose finances are precarious tended to reject the GOP, but were also much more likely to have dropped out of the political process, either not registering to vote or not planning to cast a ballot.

The studys most striking finding was that financial security affected support for the two major parties in very different ways.

Support for a Republican for Congress depended hugely on how financially stressed a person was. Among the most well-off, about half favored the GOP. That support dropped to fewer than 1 in 5 among the least well-off, the study found.

Support for Democrats was very different - pretty much constant at about 4 in 10 at all levels of financial security.

The problem for Democrats was that among the less well-off, that support usually wasnt translating into votes. Among those facing the most financial stress, for example, 42% said they favored a Democrat, but only 12% seemed likely to show up and vote for one in the midterm election, the studys pre-election survey indicated.

Although race plays a major role in politics, and blacks and Latinos are overrepresented among the financially insecure, the study found that the pattern of support for the two parties was very similar whether they looked at the overall electorate or just at white Americans. Democrats got less support among whites than among the electorate as a whole, but the level of backing was fairly consistent at all levels of financial security. Support for Republicans dropped sharply among whites in the least financially stable groups.

The fact that wealthier Americans are more likely than the poor to favor Republicans is not new. But by gauging overall financial security, rather than just income, the new study provides a clearer picture of how personal finances affect politics.

Originally posted here:
The financially stressed favor Democrats, don't vote much, study finds