Gallup Poll Shows Most Americans Feel Economy Getting Worse
If there was ever truly bad news for the White House and the Republican party, the latest Gallup poll is definitively it:
A new Gallup Poll will only reinforce those who claim that while the rich get richer most Americans don’t feel they are sharing in the growth in our economy. The stock market may be climbing and the unemployment remains relatively low, but 7 in 10 Americans believe the economy is getting worse — the most negative reading in nearly six years.
Only one in three Americans rate the economy today as either excellent or good, while the percentage saying the economy is getting better fell from 28% to 23% in one month.
You don’t want to overstate a poll and use the word “catastrophic” but this comes close to a required usage. The most fundamental axiom in politics is that people “vote their pocketbooks.” A good economy has sometimes carried a weak or beset President or party through troubled times.
But both the polling results and the trending here suggest that neither optimistic official or party statements about the future or statements about how good things are in the economy are producing desired results where results count — in the attitudes of most voters:
Gallup adds: “For the first time this year, a majority of Americans are negative about the employment market, saying it is a bad time to find a quality job.”
The 70% negative rating is up 10 points since April. Also, just in the past month, there has been a significant five-point drop, from 28% to 23%, in the percentage saying conditions are getting better.
And if you look at the specific areas of dissatisfaction, it further spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e:
“When asked about the most pressing financial problems their family faces today, Americans mention healthcare costs, lack of money or low wages, and oil and gas prices,” Gallup reports. “Healthcare costs are mentioned by 16% of Americans while 13% say low wages and 11% say oil and gas prices. These percentages are virtually unchanged from last month.”
All of this suggests (again) that unless there is some major shift for the better, Democrats will be running on George Bush’s record in 2008 and Republicans will be running away from it. And New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg may have some fun pointing to how both parties have seemingly made a mess of it.
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7 Responses to “Gallup Poll Shows Most Americans Feel Economy Getting Worse”
The upper classes in politics and the national media don’t get it, since Bush has helped them plunder the nation, but the economy IS getting worse. Yes, the numbers are going up, but the prices for the goods that actually affect most American’s pocketbooks — gas, health care, and FOOD — are skyrocketing. The CS Monitor is the only paper I’ve seen give the proper coverage to the spike in food prices.
Call me cynical, but wages will never be high enough for the majority of Americans. Consumerism is so rampant and disgusting. It’s a wonder most Americans haven’t mortgaged away their future through negative spending – oh wait, they have!
Entropy: Food, gas, education, health care, housing. Show me which of these costs qualifies as “rampant consumerism” and not necessity. Food alone has gone up 7.5% in just the last 6 months, so don’t try to put this off as America just going to the mall too often.
Dustin,
The thing is, it’s my perception that American’s are unwilling to give up their lifestyle when the cost of “necessities” increase. Maybe it’s just the people who live near me. They complain about the cost of gas after they spent almost $40k on a vehicle that gets 10 MPG. They complain about food costs when they just bought a new IPOD and spend $120 a month for premium cable service. God forbid they might actually have to change their lifestyle!
Is my view irrational? Probably. Is it true? I don’t know. Just from my anecdotal experience the people I know who complain the most about these issues are the people who have the most toys and spend the most money on lifestyle purchases. Meanwhile, my neighbors, with six freakin kids, a Mom who homeschools and a husband with half the income of the others, manage to save money for college, feed their family and pay for health insurance.
Obviously there are people out there who are at the margins and are hurting. But when I see someone with a $40k car complain they can’t afford health insurance I want to bang my head against the wall.
Some of what you say is true Entropy, there are those that cry foul of prices and drive Hummers. I think there are many more who are truly hurting.
About those 10MPG vehicles. Detroit just claims they are selling what the public wants, but why can Honda & Toyota beat Detroit HP-to-HP in MPG?
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It’s true, the economy is getting worse. Everyday I’m forced to step over more and more corpses of the uninsured as I roam the highways, desperately dancing for the dimes that contemptuous plutocrats toss into my begging bowl.