The FINANCIAL — With the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes hovering near two-year lows and unemployment rates still in the nine percent (9%) range, it's perhaps no surprise to find that a majority of Americans say the economy is adding stress to their family.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% of American Adults say the state of the economy is causing more stress on their family. That finding is up 10 points from this time last year . Twenty-seven percent (27%) say the economy isn’t causing their family more stress.
But only 28% say the economy has negatively affected their personal relationship with any friend or family member. This shows virtually no change from August of last year.
Still, 43% of adults say they have gotten into an intense argument with a friend or family member about economic conditions in the country. That's up six points from 37% last year. Fifty-five percent (55%) say they have not gotten into a heated argument with a friend or family member about who is to blame for the state of the economy and how it should be fixed.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 31-August 1, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Most Americans (68%) say their fellow citizens are less tolerant of each other’s political opinions than they were in the past, while just 16% say they’re more tolerant. Another 12% feel Americans’ level of tolerance is about the same as it was in the past. These results show little change from August 2010.
Higher-income adults are experiencing less family stress than those who make less. Non-investors claim more family stress than investors do.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of adults with children at home say economic conditions in the nation are adding stress to their family, compared to 64% of adults without children living with them.
Adults under the age of 30 report more stress than their elders do.
More Americans than ever (76%) say their fellow citizens are becoming ruder and less civilized . That’s up from 69% this time last year.
The Rasmussen Employment Index , which measures workers’ perceptions of the labor market each month, fell nearly eight points in July to the lowest level since March. Only 18% of working Americans now report that their firms are hiring, while 24% say their firms are laying workers off. It has been nearly three years since the number reporting that their firms are hiring has topped the number reporting lay-offs.
The belief among Americans that purchasing a home is a family’s best investment is weaker than ever.
One-in-five working Americans continue to classify themselves as poor, while the number of those who consider themselves middle class has fallen to a two-year low.
www.rasmussenreports.com
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