PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update on consumer perceptions of the economy finds that 87% of Americans believe that the U.S. economy is getting worse, a number that is tied for the most negative reading on this measure so far this year.
These negative numbers are symptomatic of the extraordinarily dour economic mood in which Americans have found themselves for most of 2008. As the year began, "just" 73% of Americans said that the economy is getting worse, a number that quickly rose to above 80%, where it has remained, for the most part, during the last two months.
Seventeen percent of Americans are willing to rate the current economy as "excellent" or "good," with 40% saying that it is only fair, and 43% rating it as "poor." -- Frank Newport
Survey Methods
For the Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey, 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 1,500 interviews conducted April 12-14, 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.
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