More Dismal Numbers in New Poll on the Economy

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest Harris Poll on what the public thinks and feels about the economy makes dismal reading for the White House and the Democrats, as the campaign for this November's mid-term elections moves into higher gear.  President Obama's ratings on his handling of the economy, 29% positive and 71% negative, are his worst yet.  Only just over a quarter of the public think that the economy will improve in the next year (28%), and less than a quarter think that their household's financial situation will improve in the next 6 months (22%).  Not only are negative views held by large majorities of Republicans and Independents, they are shared by many Democrats.  Furthermore people over 65, who tend to vote more heavily than younger voters in mid-term elections, are particularly gloomy, and give President Obama even lower ratings than younger adults.

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These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,620 adults surveyed online between September 14 and 20, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Some of the main findings of the poll are:

• President Obama's 71% negative rating on the economy is his highest ever, up from 64% in May and 68% in August. It includes 40% who rate his performance on the economy as poor and 31% who rate it as only fair;
• Democrats are split; 51% rate the president positively, but 49% agree with the 94% of Republicans and 78% of Independents who give him negative ratings;
• Matures (aged 65 and older) give the president higher negative ratings on the economy (77%) than any other generation;
• Few people (28%) expect the economy to improve in the next year. Even fewer (22%) expect their household's financial condition to improve in the next six months. This includes only 29% of Democrats who are optimistic about their household's financial condition;
• Fully 69% of all adults rate the job market in their region of the country as bad, while only 10% rate it as good. These numbers have not changed much for more than a year;
• The region where the job market is most likely to be rated as bad in the West (75%), but, of course the numbers are also very high in the East (62%), the Midwest (71%) and the South (68%).

So What?

These new Harris Poll results add weight to the expectation that the Republicans will do extremely well in this November's elections, not because the public is enthusiastic about the GOP (indeed other polls have shown that few people give it good marks) but because they will vote to express their anger and frustration at the poor state of the economy and this administration's failure to create more jobs.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between September 14 to 20, 2010 among 2,620 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.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

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Q705, 715, 720, 725, 735

The Harris Poll® #113, September 29, 2010

By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

SOURCE Harris Interactive