The FINANCIAL — How much damage did the government shutdown do to Americans' attitudes on the economy? Unfortunately, maybe a lot – and now the question becomes, will these attitudes become a new reality or will they settle down in a month or two?
For the President, things haven't changed that much month over month. This month, three in ten Americans (30%) give President Obama positive ratings for his handling of the economy while 70% give him negative marks. This is almost unchanged from last month, when 29% gave him positive marks and 71% gave President Obama negative ratings, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Looking ahead, there is definitely a sense of pessimism on the economy in the next few months. Last month, almost half of U.S. adults (46%) said, in the coming year, that they expect the economy to stay the same, while less than one-quarter (22%) expected it to improve and one-third (32%) expected it to get worse. This month, while 22% still believe the economy will improve in the upcoming year, now four in ten Americans (41%) believe the economy will get worse and 37% say it will stay the same.
There is also a growing sense of pessimism on household finances. While just under half of Americans (48%) say they believe their household financial condition will stay the same in the next six months, 18% believe it will get better and one-third (34%) say it will get worse. In September, 19% believed it would get better and 29% believed it would get worse, according to the report.
When it comes to the job market, the sense of pessimism is not as severe as with the overall economy. One in five Americans (20%) say the current job market in their region is good, while one-third (32%) say it is neither good nor bad and almost half (48%) say it is bad. In August, almost one-quarter (23%) said the job market was good and 46% said it was bad. Looking ahead six months, one in five U.S. adults (20%) say they job market in their region will get better, 53% say it will remain the same and 27% believe it will get worse. Two months ago, one-quarter of Americans (25%) said the job market would be better in six months and 24% believed it would get worse, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
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