(MONEY Magazine) – THIS MONTH: --What 7,000 small investors learned at a Vegas money show --How to exercise shareholder rights --Use your computer to plan for budget-busting events

Forget the angry white males. the swing vote in this year's presidential election is likely to be the nation's 100 million voting-age women, whose startling unhappiness with almost all matters financial dominates the results of our exclusive 1996 Americans and Their Money survey (see the table above). "Women are more downbeat than men on almost every issue relating to their own finances and to the economy," says Adam Richard, senior vice president of Willard & Shullman, the Greenwich, Conn. firm that conducted the MONEY survey.

More broadly, our 11th national Americans and Their Money survey--the most comprehensive poll of its kind--found Americans generally content with their personal finances but grumpy about low pay. They are fatalistic about the November elections but, in a shift from politics as usual, think they'd be worse off financially if Republican Bob Dole wins (33%) than if Democrat Bill Clinton is re-elected (29%). The mail survey, conducted in February and March, included responses from 1,218 household financial decisionmakers (margin of error: plus or minus 2.9). Other key details:

--Overall, Americans feel fine about their finances. A majority (56%) say they are fairly or very satisfied with their financial situations, though that's down from 61% three years ago.

--By contrast, women are anxious. More than half of women surveyed (55%) say paying an unexpected $1,000 bill would pose a big problem, vs. only 33% of men. And a striking one in four women (24%) thinks the U.S. will fall into a serious recession within the next 12 months, compared with only one in six men (16%).

--Job jitters continue. Almost half (46%) of all Americans expect the unemployment rate to rise over the next 12 months from its current 5.6% level. In last year's survey, only one in three (34%) felt that way. When we asked how long it would take to find a comparable job if you were laid off, the No. 1 answer--from 30%--was a fearful "never."

--Pay is a problem. Asked to name their top job concern from nine choices, the largest proportion (41%) said "low raises." That's no surprise, considering U.S. wages and benefits increased only 2.9% in 1995, the smallest hike in 15 years. Women--who make an average 76 [cents] for every male-earned dollar--are significantly more unhappy with their paychecks: Only one in five say they're earning what they're worth, vs. 29% of men who think so.

--Americans are pessimistic about the nation's future. Some bad news for President Clinton's re-election campaign: An alarming 59% of Americans say the U.S. is in long-term decline, much higher than the 43% who thought so four years ago. And the percentage of parents who think their kids will live better than they do has dropped from 63% in 1993 to 53% today.

--Still, the American dream seems attainable. A full 57% of people think the American dream is still alive, up from 52% in 1995. American dreamin' is even stronger when respondents are asked about others: 66% say the dream is alive for their neighbors; 69% for their family and 70% for immigrants.

Other highlights of the poll:

Republicans may need to roll out the spinmeisters, because more people expect their taxes to rise if Dole becomes President (41%) than if Clinton is re-elected (38%). Women are especially suspicious about Republicans. Nearly half of all female survey respondents think taxes will rise under a Republican President, vs. about one in three men. When asked what might be fueling such concerns, Dole campaign deputy press secretary Christina Martin would not comment. She did, however, point out that the survey found that when Americans were asked about their taxes without naming Dole specifically, 27% thought taxes would decrease under a Republican President while only 15% thought that would occur under Bill Clinton.

In all, however, Americans anticipate little change in their personal finances regardless of who's in the White House. "No effect" was the answer given most often when we asked how respondents' finances would fare if Clinton or Dole won. The public's only cause for concern: a Clinton second term with Democrats also wresting leadership of Congress from Newt & Co. Four in 10 respondents said they'd then be worse off financially.

Americans are pretty upbeat about the stock market, though. Despite the S&P's 37.5% run-up in 1995, nearly four in 10 Americans--and 52% of those with incomes of $50,000-plus--expect stock prices to rise over the next 12 months.

Americans' habit of living on borrowed money is reflected throughout this year's survey. For example, the monthly median amount for the average household's credit-card bill has increased--to $249 this year, up 33% from $187 in our 1993 survey.

This year we wanted to learn who Americans thought was overpaid, and we found a surprise. Despite the hullabaloo over CEO salaries, the public thinks athletes are the most overpaid pros in the U.S. They were cited by 53% of all respondents.

Finally, for more than 10 years, we have asked Americans what's more on their minds: money or sex? This year, like last, folks are overwhelmingly G-rated. Some 44% say they think about money more often than sex, vs. just 16% whose thoughts wander the other way. Again, women are truly focused on pocketbook issues: Some 60% of women (vs. 34% of men) think about dollars more than dalliances. One in three of your fellow citizens say they enjoy sex more than money, vs. a scant one in five who gets more kicks from a roll of bills than a roll in the hay. Nonetheless, a depressingly growing number of Americans--12%, up from 9% last year--say they enjoy neither money nor sex. Confidential to those people: Get a life!