Over Half of Americans Are Not Confident in White House on Economy

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091020005245/en

Seven in ten Americans continue to rate job market as bad
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
As the White House continues to have a very split focus on issues ranging from
health care to Afghanistan to education, one area where Americans are losing
confidence is in the economy. Over half of U.S. adults (56%) are now not
confident that the White House and the Administration will produce policies to
help fix the economic crisis, while the remaining 44% are confident. This is
down from September when feelings were more divided - 52% of Americans were not
confident and 48% were confident.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,293 adults surveyed
online between October 5 and 12, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.

The economy in the future

Looking ahead, there is also a continuing sense of pessimism in where the
economy will be going in the coming year. Now, one-third of Americans (34%)
believe the economy will improve while 29% say it will get worse in the coming
year and 37% believe it will stay the same. In September, people were more
hopeful; 40% believed the economy would improve in the coming year and
one-quarter (24%) said it would get worse.

When it comes to the financial situation a little closer to home, things have
not changed much from last month. In September, when asked about their
household`s financial condition in the next six months, 23% of Americans said it
would be better, almost half (48%) said it would remain the same and 29%
believed their household`s financial condition would get worse. This month, 23%
still believe it will get better, while 45% say it will remain the same and 31%
believe it will get worse in the next six months.

There is a regional difference on household financial condition. Those in the
West are more optimistic about the future with over one-quarter (27%) saying
things will get better and the same number (27%) believing it will get worse in
the next six months. Those in the Midwest are the most pessimistic, however. One
in five Midwesterners (20%) say it will get better while one-third (33%) believe
their household`s financial condition will get worse in the next six months.

The job market

One area where the negativity continues to be strong is the job market. Just one
in ten Americans (10%) say the current job market of their region of the country
is good with seven in ten (70%) saying it is bad and 20% saying it is neither
good nor bad. This is almost unchanged from last month when 10% believed the job
market was good and 68% believed it was bad. The Midwest again is the most
negative as only 6% feel the job market in their region is good and almost four
in five (78%) say it is bad. Easterners are more positive with 13% believing the
job market is good and 65% saying it is bad.

So what?

Unemployment is moving ever closer to the 10% mark nationwide and, as it does,
Americans are continuing to be anxious about this major part of the economy.
Other economic indicators such as the stock market and corporate profits have
improved, but what matters to most people are the tangibles - and employment is
definitely a tangible in the minds of Americans. If they haven`t been laid off
themselves, they most likely know someone who has. And even if they don`t, the
odds are quite good that the fear of the possibility of being laid off is never
too far from their thoughts. Until this feeling leaves, they will not change
their overall feelings on the economy, which is undermining confidence in the
Obama administration`s ability to do much about the current economic situation.

TABLE 1

CONFIDENCE IN WHITE HOUSE ON ECONOMY
"How confident are you that the White House and the Administration will produce policies to help fix the economic crisis?"
Base: All adults

March April May June Aug Sept Oct
% % % % % % %
CONFIDENT (NET) 57 57 55 49 53 48 44
Very confident 16 17 17 12 16 13 13
Somewhat confident 41 40 38 37 37 35 31
NOT CONFIDENT (NET) 43 43 45 51 47 52 56
Not that confident 23 21 24 25 23 25 25
Not at all confident 20 22 21 27 25 27 32

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 2

ECONOMIC EXPECTATIONS FOR THE COMING YEAR
"In the coming year, do you expect the economy to…?"
Base: All adults

April May Aug Sept Oct Sept. - Region
East Midwest South West
% % % % % % % % %
Improve 39 38 46 40 34 32 34 31 39
Stay the same 35 35 32 36 37 37 35 37 37
Get worse 26 27 22 24 29 30 31 31 24

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 3

HOUSEHOLDS` FINANCIAL CONDITIONS 6 MONTHS FROM NOW - BY REGION
"Thinking about your household`s current financial situation, do you expect it to be better or worse in the next six months?"
Base: All adults

Total Region
East Midwest South West
% % % % %
BETTER (NET) 23 22 20 24 27
Will be much better 4 5 3 4 5
Will be somewhat better 19 17 17 19 22
Will remain the same 45 45 47 43 46
WORSE (NET) 31 32 33 33 27
Will be somewhat worse 23 22 24 24 19
Will be much worse 9 11 9 9 8

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4

ECONOMIC EXPECTATIONS FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS - TREND
"Thinking about your household`s financial condition, do you expect it to be better or worse in the next 6 months?"
Base: All adults

Feb March June July Nov Jan Mar April May June Aug Sept Oct
2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009
% % % % % % % % % % % % %
BETTER (NET) 39 33 40 36 24 20 20 23 25 21 24 23 23
Will remain the same 28 28 25 25 43 48 46 46 45 45 48 48 45
WORSE (NET) 34 39 36 39 33 32 35 31 30 33 28 29 31

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 5

RATING OF CURRENT JOB MARKET IN YOUR REGION
"How would you rate the current job market of your region of the country?"
Base: All adults

Total Region
East Midwest South West
% % % % %
GOOD (NET) 10 13 6 12 9
Very good 2 4 1 2 *
Somewhat good 9 9 5 11 9
Neither good nor bad 20 22 16 21 21
BAD (NET) 70 65 78 67 70
Somewhat bad 38 36 45 37 34
Very bad 32 29 33 30 36

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding
Note: * indicates less than 0.5%

TABLE 6

RATING OF CURRENT JOB MARKET - TREND
"How would you rate the current job market of your region of the country?"
Base: All adults

June July Jan April June Aug Sept Oct
2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009
% % % % % % % %
GOOD (NET) 28 30 6 12 9 8 10 10
Neither good nor bad 18 19 18 20 19 21 22 20
BAD (NET) 53 51 76 68 72 71 68 70

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

The Harris Poll®#117, October 20, 2009
By Regina A. Corso, Director, The Harris Poll

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States October 5 and 12,
2009 among 2,293 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex,
race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where
necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the
population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents`
propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are
subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to
quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated
with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options,
and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids
the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated
are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure,
unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical
because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to
participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to
reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on
those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of
theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council
on Public Polls.

J37076
Q708, 710, 715, 720

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