(09/06/11) -

Americans Continue to Provide a Bleak Economic Forecast

Only 12 per cent of respondents rate current conditions as good, and three-in-ten expect the economy to decline.

Many Americans are disappointed with the current state of the national economy, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,007 American adults, 86 per cent of respondents rate the economic conditions in the United States as “bad” or “very bad.”

Two-in-five Americans (40%) rate their own personal finances as “very good” or “good”, while a majority (57%) describe them as “poor” or “very poor.”

Only 19 per cent of respondents expect the U.S. economy to improve over the next six months, while 44 per cent think it will remain the same, and 31 per cent forecast a decline.

Practically half of Americans have worried occasionally or frequently about themselves or somebody in their household becoming unemployed (48%) and about the value of their investments (47%). Other sources for concern are the safety of savings (45%), being able to pay the mortgage of rent (42%), and their employer running into serious financial trouble (30%).

A large proportion of respondents expect the price of groceries (75%) and gasoline (67%) to increase in the next six months. Fewer Americans think they will have to cope with pricier cars (45%), televisions (28%) and real estate (21%).

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)

CONTACT:

Mario Canseco, Vice President, Angus Reid Public Opinion
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com

Methodology: From August 30 to August 31, 2011, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,007 randomly selected American adults who are Springboard America panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of the United States. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.