SANTA MARIA - With the election now just days away candidates are reaching out to convince the undecided middle class voters.
A middle class standard of living has come to mean a secure job, a safe and stable home, access to health care, retirement security, having children and providing for their education.
But demographic experts say the term middle class is far too broad and outdated, they say working class is now more accurate.
Like many young families on the Central Coast, the Allen family has a hard time making ends meet.
"Everyday is a struggle", says Amy Allen who has a two year old boy named Aaron.
While they describe themselves as lower middle class, the Allen's say the term is meaningless to them.
"Every week its pay check to pay check, to make rent, to pay for school, to pay for bills", Amy Allen says, "I think we were better off when I was growing up than now."
Middle class money today doesn't go very far, the average family of four in America had a household income of just over $50,000 last year.
According to the Census Bureau, a typical household making $143,000 a year is near the top of the so-called middle income bracket but 30 million Americans are just above the official poverty line, supporting a family of four on no more than $34,000 last year.
"That's a big gap", Amy Allen says, "being in between I still can't afford health insurance, even with both of us working, its impossible."
"Its not that useful of a concept because its so broad", says Cal Poly Political Science professor Michael Latner, "someone making $250,000 a year also thinks he's in the middle class."
Latner says middle class voters are targeted in a presidential election.
"It's a group that is used a lot for political purposes because all politicians want to associate with the middle class", Latner says, "even more so than with the middle class, the average American or the common man and common woman."
For the Allen family, they hope whoever wins the election can bring the middle class lifestyle closer within reach.
"As of the last couple of years it can't get any worse", Amy Allen says, "so we have to look up, so I guess I'm optimistic, I certainly hope so."
Both candidates in the presidential election refer to households making $250,000 a year or less as the top end of the American middle class.
Experts say those 30 million "near poor" lower middle class voters are a job loss or catastrophic health issue away from plunging below the poverty line.
That's why they say the economy is by far the number one issue for the majority of middle class voters.
