Updated

More than 40 percent of Americans say they are financially worse off now than they were a year ago, reversing a two-year trend in which Americans believed their situations had improved, a new Gallup poll finds.

Yet the same poll found that a majority of Americans believe they'll be better off financially one year from now.

The results come from Gallup's annual "Mood of the Nation" poll, which was released on Wednesday.

Forty-two percent of Americans said they're worse off financially than they were last year, compared to 35 percent who feel they're better off. Twenty-two percent of respondents said their financial situation has stayed the same.

Those who believe they're worse off rose from 39 percent one year ago.

But 55 percent of Americans believe they'll be better off next year, an outlook consistent with past polls, Gallup said.

"Despite a sustained, if sluggish, economic recovery that has lasted nearly five years, most Americans report being no better off financially than they were a year ago," Gallup concluded. "As previous years show, Americans are typically more positive about their future compared with their assessments of the past, a testament to the enduring sense of optimism many Americans share about their financial future."

The poll, which sampled 1,018 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, was conducted from Jan. 5 through 8.

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