Where Does It Hurt? Poll Says Energy, Food Prices Dent Wallets

Energy and food prices top the list of financial concerns for most Americans, according to the latest Gallup poll.

Not only that, they top the next most-worried-about factors by 10 percentage points.

Gallup asked respondents this week whether a series of "situation[s]" are hurting their families' finances. Here's the rank order, according to how many people said these things were indeed hurting them:

The price of energy, 79% including gas The price of food 76% Taxes 69% Health care costs 68% The federal debt 56% ceiling Government regulations 48% Federal spending cuts 46% Immigration policies 38% The availability 30% of credit

What's notable about this list is that the costs of energy and food trump macro political concerns by far. On the one hand, 56 percent said "the federal debt ceiling" is hurting family finances, and that number may or may not seem high. On the other hand, far fewer were worried about it than were worried about high food prices.