That may not sound like all that much of a reduction, but consider these numbers: 52 percent of respondents feel their financial security is staying about the same, while 15 percent of respondents feel their level of financial security is getting worse.

These results seem to dovetail with those of another poll, the Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index, which found the pulse of investors and retirees racing—and not in a good way—at the anticipation of market turbulence and its possible negative effects on portfolios and retirement income.

In the COUNTRY index, there was concern not just about overall financial security, but also about retirement.

Only 16 percent of respondents feel they are likely to have enough money to retire comfortably; that's a directional change from earlier this year, down two percentage points.

In addition, less than three out of four Americans (74 percent) are confident they could pay debts as they come due, dropping from 78 percent six months ago—and just a hair over half (52 percent) feel confident their family would be able to live comfortably if they were to die or become disabled; that's down nine percentage points from earlier this year.

Millennials in particular are worried about their financial stability, with only a little over a third of them (36 percent) feeling very confident in their ability to pay their debts as they come due. That's 11 percent less than the overall population.

And women, as has been borne out in previous polls, are also suffering. Only 40 percent of them expressed confidence in their financial security, compared with 49 percent of men, and only 50 percent of them believe they'll be able to retire comfortably—compared with 60 percent of men.