A new CNN poll out on Friday shows that two and half years after the financial crisis and subsequent fallout, the public’s worries about the economy have not settled. In fact, more people now feel the US is in a recession than they did in October of 2008.
CNN’s survey showed that 69 percent of Americans think we are in a serious or moderate recession, with 13 percent who believe it’s still a mild one. That means 8 in 10 Americans still feel the economy is still stuck in neutral, which isn’t helpful for other economic indicators like consumer confidence, and could contribute to slowing the recovery.
Gallup recently published data showing that confidence was low but had stabilized, after it saw a huge drop in late July and early August when Washington was in the middle of the debt ceiling debate. But in tracking data that matches up with the new CNN poll, Americans’ economic outlook has become increasingly negative over the last few months, according to Gallup. Currently, only 23 percent think economic conditions are getting better, against 71 percent who think they are worse.
Of course, the consequences of such poor sentiments on the economy translate to political disagreement on what’s necessary to fix the problem. From the report:
Americans have “a bad case of economic jitters,” according to CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. About two-thirds think the president should focus more on creating jobs right now, even if it means less deficit reduction.Don’t expect Republicans to stop demanding more budget cuts though. Almost half of GOPers surveyed say deficit reduction is just as important as creating more jobs, including those who identify themselves as tea party supporters.
Democrats strongly disagree. Eighty-three percent want the president to focus more on job growth, and two-thirds of independents say the same.
The CNN poll used 1,017 live telephone interviews with American adults conducted on August 24th and 25th. It has a sampling error of three percent.
Kyle Leighton
Kyle is the Poll Editor at TPM. He graduated from Beloit College (WI) and began working in politics before getting an M.A. in magazine journalism from New York University, where he interned at TPM and the website of The New Yorker.
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