An estimated 20 percent of adults in the U.S. have become rich at some point of their lives and have influenced the country's economy and politics, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The report said that the top 2 percent of affluent Americans include mid-age professionals, working married couples and single professionals who are more educated and are more likely to become barriers to the growing income gap in the U.S. The report categorized this group as America's "New Rich" with a household income of $250,000 or more at one part of their professional lives.
Recently, the U.S. economy has witnessed a record high in poverty rate and the rising number of poor people in the U.S. has been well-documented academically and in media. However, the new rich are taking the limelight for their sense of economic fragility.
A survey that submitted to the Associated Press shows that the new rich would reach the top 2 percent of the economic ladder, but falls below it on many occasions. Their inconsistent economic status makes the new rich more conservative in terms of spending than the majority of Americans, the survey shows. This also means that the new rich are less likely to support state and various welfare programs to help the disadvantaged.
"For many in this group, the American dream is not dead. They have reached affluence for parts of their lives and see it as very attainable, even if the dream has become more elusive for everyone else," Mark Rank, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told CNBC. Rank authored a forthcoming book on affluence entitled "Chasing the American Dream" in which he calculated the number of new rich in the U.S.
Polls and new research suggest that America's new rich are the fastest growing group based on income. They are more likely able to send themselves or their children to better schools, land more promising employment opportunities, and experience more economic and social privileges.
The polls show that the new rich are more liberal on issues such as abortion and gay rights when compared to groups in the lower-income brackets. However, the new rich's liberal fall short when it comes to money in which the polls show their views are not so open.
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