Obama’s Ratings Slide Across the Board
Support for Obama’s job performance — as well as his handling of health care, the economy and deficit–has fallen, but most remain confident his policies will be positive in the long term. The public supports many of his health care goals but opposes many proposals being debated in Congress.
Recession Dot Net
More than two-thirds of Americans have logged on to the internet looking for financial information. Of these “online economic users” most are looking for good deals and job opportunities. More said that what they learned on the internet made them more anxious than said they were made more confident.
Public More Optimistic About the Economy, But Still Reluctant to Spend
Increasingly, Americans express the view that the nation’s economy will improve in the next year, and a growing number also expect their personal finances to get better. But this has not caused people to open their wallets.
Recession Pounds States’ Budgets
Stateline.org’s legislative review finds state budgets in such dire straits that they are closing prisons in Colorado and Kansas, raising taxes on the rich in New York and even taxing bourbon in Kentucky — and the worst is yet to come.
Gen Next Squeezed By Recession, But Most See Better Times Ahead
While the economic downturn is falling quite heavily on younger Americans, their overall outlook remains optimistic. A new survey also finds Generation Next expressing more liberal views when compared with older age cohorts as well as evidence of increased political engagement.
Independents Take Center Stage in the Obama Era
Centrism has emerged as a dominant factor in public opinion as the Obama administration begins. Republicans and Democrats are even more divided than in the past, while the growing political middle is steadfastly mixed in its beliefs about government, the free market and other values that underlie views on contemporary issues and policies. Both political parties have lost adherents since the election and an increasing number of Americans identify as independents.
Support for Free Trade Recovers Despite Recession
Despite the economic recession, support for free trade agreements is up by nine percentage points — from 35% to 44% — putting positive opinions of trade back in line with long-term trends. People in low-income families and Democrats are much more supportive of trade now than they were a year ago.
Public Knows Basic Facts About Financial Crisis
High percentages of Americans know that the government assistance to banks is aimed at getting them to lend more money, not less money and that China is the foreign country holding the most U.S. government debt. Notably, more Americans know the current unemployment rate than the current level of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The Phantom Recovery
The eight-year period from 1999 through 2007 is the longest in modern U.S. economic history in which inflation-adjusted median household income failed to surpass an earlier peak.
In Mammon We Trust? Religions Agree Economy is Issue Number One
While members of all faiths see the economy as the top priority for 2009, they are not always in agreement on what issues the government should tackle. The divide is especially large on reducing crime and moral decline in America.
