Results of the latest Harris Poll of 2,498 U.S. adults surveyed online show that there is a slight sense of optimism regarding the economy. 46% of Americans believe the economy will improve in the
coming year, while 32% say it will stay the same and 22% believe it will get worse. In May, just under two in five believed the economy would improve in the coming year while over one-quarter said
they thought it would get worse.
Expectations Of The Economy In One Year (Base:
All Adults, % Of Respondents) |
advertisement advertisement | April | May | Aug. |
Improve | 39% | 38 | 46 |
Stay the same | 35 | 35 | 32 |
Get worse | 26 | 27 | 22 |
Source: Harris Poll, August 2009 |
One-quarter of Americans believe that their household
financial condition will be better in six months while half say it will remain the same and 28% believe it will get worse. the 28% who say their household's financial condition will get worse in
the next six months is the lowest number who believes that since this question was first asked in February of 2008.
Anticipated Households' Financial Conditions In 6 Months (Base: All Adults, Percent Of Respondents By Category) |
Region | Total | East | Midwest | South | West
|
Better (Net) | 24% | 23 | 19 | 27 | 26 |
Much better | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Somewhat
better | 20 | 18 | 15 | 22 | 21 |
Remain the same | 48 | 53 | 51 | 46
| 44 |
Worse (Net) | 28 | 24 | 30 | 27 | 30 |
Somewhat worse | 22 | 19 | 24 | 21 | 24 |
Much worse | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Source: Harris Poll, August 2009 |
Three in five Americans say they are not concerned that the main income earner might become unemployed in the next
six months while 39% are concerned. However, 71% of Americans rate the current job market of their region of the country as bad, with just 8% saying it is good. This is almost unchanged from June when
72% said the current job market was bad and 9% said it was good.
Concern Over Becoming
Unemployed (Base: All adults, % of Respondents) |
| April 2009 | June 2009 | Aug. 2009 |
Concerned (Net) | 43% | 42 | 39
|
Very concerned | 17 | 16 | 14 |
Somewhat concerned | 26 | 27 | 25 |
Not Concerned (Net) | 57 | 58 | 61 |
Not very concerned | 26 | 27 | 28 |
Not at all concerned | 31 | 31 | 32 |
Source: Harris Poll, August 2009 |
Looking ahead six months, one-quarter of Americans (25%) say that the job market in their region will be worse in that time, 28% say it will be better and almost half (47%)
believe it will remain the same. Here people are a little optimistic as in June, just one in five (21%) believed the job market in their region would be better in six months while almost one-third
(32%) said it will be worse.
Expectations For Job Market In Six Months
(Base: All adults, % of Respondents) |
| Jan. 2009 | April 2009 | June 2009 | Aug. 2009
|
Better (Net) | 15% | 23 | 21 | 28 |
Much
better | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Somewhat better | 14 | 20 | 19 | 26 |
Remain the same | 36 | 42 | 47
| 47 |
Worse (Net) | 49 | 36 | 32 | 25 |
Somewhat worse | 36 | 29 | 24 | 19 |
Much worse | 14 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
Source: Harris Poll, August 2009 |
The report concludes that "People are currently feeling cautiously
optimistic on the economy, but until they feel strong, Americans are not likely to be opening up their wallets and spending again... needed to really help spur the economy along."
Please
visit Harris Interactive here for more information.