PRINCETON, NJ -- According to Gallup Poll Daily tracking of Americans' economic attitudes, two in three Americans surveyed have a "negative" outlook on the economy, meaning they see current economic conditions as "only fair" or "poor" and do not believe that conditions are improving. Only 10% of Americans have a "positive" outlook on the economy in that they rate current economic conditions as either "excellent" or "good" and see them as getting better or staying the same.
Americans are significantly more likely to rate current economic conditions as poor (32%) than as either excellent or good (23%). This has been the case since mid-January. In early January, the public was more likely to rate the economy as excellent or good than as poor. A rather large group of Americans, 45%, currently says economic conditions are only fair.
A reason so many Americans have a gloomy outlook on the economy may be because 78% perceive conditions as getting worse -- just 15% believe they are getting better. All year long, Americans have been far more likely to say conditions are getting worse rather than say they are getting better. -- Jeff Jones
Methodology: Gallup is interviewing 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008. The results reported here are based on 1,494 interviews conducted Feb. 4-6, 2008. For results based on this sample, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
