PRINCETON, NJ -- Thirty-seven percent of Americans rate current economic conditions as "poor," marking a new high in Gallup Poll Daily tracking of consumer confidence.
This is one percentage point higher than what Gallup measured earlier this week, though not a statistically significant increase. When the tracking program started at the beginning of the year, just 24% rated conditions as poor. Twenty-two percent say current conditions are "excellent" or "good," and 42% describe them as "only fair."
When asked about the direction of the economy, 81% say the think it is getting worse, only 14% say better. -- Jeff Jones
Methodology: Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008. The economic questions analyzed in this report are asked of a random half-sample of respondents. The results reported here are based on combined data from 1,548 interviews conducted Feb. 26-28, 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.