Poll: Many say economy is in permanent decline

CBS

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

In a sign of increasing pessimism about the direction of the U.S. economy, roughly four in ten Americans now believes it is in permanent decline, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

The percentage that sees the economy as in permanent decline has increased from 28 percent in October 2010 to 39 percent in the new poll. And the percentage that expects the economy to eventually recover to its past heights has fallen from 68 percent last October to 57 percent today.

That's not the only finding signaling that Americans have a negative outlook about their economic future. Only 20 percent now say the economy is getting better, the lowest number since last August. Thirty-one percent say it is getting worse. Roughly half stay it is staying the same.

Americans overwhelmingly cite the economy and jobs as their top concern, with 53 percent identifying it as the most important issue facing the economy. (The second place issue, the budget deficit, was cited by just 7 percent.) But just 15 percent say Washington is paying a lot of attention to improving the economy. Forty-five percent say the federal government is paying little-to-no attention to the economy.

Asked if the federal government should spend money to create jobs, a slim majority - 52 percent - said no, it should focus on lowering the debt. Forty-two percent said the government should spend to create jobs, even if has to borrow money to do so. Three in four Republicans said no, while three in five Democrats said yes.

Americans are split on whether unemployment benefits should be extended, with 47 percent saying yes - even if it increases the federal budget deficit - and 44 percent saying no. Most Democrats said yes while most Republicans said no.

Americans continue to be at least somewhat concerned that someone in their household could be out of work in the next year, including 31 percent who are very concerned.

Pollsters also asked parents with children between ages 13 and 22 if economic changes have changed their educational plans for their child. Thirty-seven percent said the type of college they can afford has changed; 23 percent said economic conditions have caused them to delay or decide against college for their children. 

More from the poll:

Four in 5 approve of Obama's plan for Afghanistan drawdown
Poll: Most think government should help homeowners in trouble
Poll: GOP voters still not happy with choices
Obama approval ratings still below 50 percent

See Full Poll Data

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 979 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone June 24-28, 2011. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[Coastie90]

I'd like to see what segment were polled for this information. My unscientific poll here in central Fl shows 75% don't want tax increases. Also, why must I pay taxes on the social security i'm receiving. This isn't fair either.

[plosasso]

It is this president and all the high level politicians who created what this economy is today -giving trillions away to banks and private companies - and now they take the position that they are trying to save our economy after they left the barn door open and all the foxes got in,the politicians never say anything about the benefits they voted for themselves, they should be put in the same position as the people they are supposed to work for.

[SparkysMom]

Everything moves in cycles, ups and downs are part of life. America now has to operate in a more complex world, where other economies are demanding their upward swing. As a world economy, we will reach equilibrium where perhaps Americans are less obviously superior in wealth and comfort than other nations. Look at history. This seems inevitable.

Hopefully the new equilibrium will allow us to live well enough, but we cannot continue here at home to fork over unfair shares to a very small number of wealthy Americans in the hopes that they will benevolently share their wealth by job creation. Hog wash. Job creation is far from their minds. They want luxuries and safety for their children and grandchildren, nothing else.

[freedomdanes]

The following statement from SparkysMOM is twisted---"we cannot continue here at home to fork over unfair shares to a very small number of wealthy Americans in the hopes that they will benevolently share their wealth by job creation." First off, nobody hands the wealthy anything....the wealthy BECAME wealthy thru a nasty 4 letter word "WORK"..the only folks getting hand outs are the ones that don't pay taxes...
Sparkys odd remarks go further---" Job creation is far from their minds. WHAT??? Companies (which rich people create--Bill Gates, etc.) grow and increase their wealth as they create jobs. Of course they want to create jobs. Haven't you ever owned a business?
SparkysMom goes on---" They want luxuries and safety for their children and grandchildren" So you are saying you don't want luxuries and saftey for YOUR children??? You are strange!!! and selfish! I'd think you'd want to work harder for your family. It will provide your children with more options in the future.
Try to think a little bigger to benefit your children and grandchildren....

[AlFranken]

China has adopted a socialist/capitalist economy and they are thriving.

We adopted a capitalist only economy during Hoover administration and G.W. Bush's administration in which we inherited the Great Depression and the worse recession ever.

Socialism doesn't work by itself and creates dependents and kills innovation as demonstrated during the short communist tenure of the Soviet Union and the Great Leap Forward under the Chinese communist Chairman Mao.

United States was at its best when we had FDR's New Deal with pure conservative values which includes working hard and expecting no handouts but yet we had equality through hard fought unions who protected our children by giving them an education and a Father who worked hard on the railroad/construction/ coal mine for an 8 hour day.

We don't have those qualities anymore on either side of the spectrum and too often demonstrated through harsh opinions of each other.

I'm sorry to say that our empire is crumbling in the permanent sense as described in the escalating opinions of Americans.

Every good thing must come to an end as the Roman Empire did which our Republic emulates.

China will soon be the new superpower and unfortunately, by the time we see our errors, it will be too late.

[macthefloorguy]

There might just be a correlation between the poll taken last October, and the more recent one after the big republican wins nationwide. Maybe people can see the damage that the republicans will do if they gain more power. The republicans in congress have done absolutely nothing but obstruct every meaningful bill which Obama wants to pass to help the American people live a better life. The energy bill is just one example. 85 percent of Americans, according to the most recent Gallop polling, want the energy bill passed. But Mitch McConnell was determined to make sure that Obama didn't pass any legislation before the election, and filibustered the bill which passed the house 18 months before. About the same time he received a $500,000 "contribution" from big oil, which wants to kill the bill. It would mean the end of big oil's monopoly on transportation in the US, which would mean Exxon might not make $50 billion next year as they are doing this year by ruining the economy with manipulated oil prices. Their chairman admitted two weeks ago that "at least 40 percent of oil prices" are due to manipulation. In other words, if this were not allowed to occur, gasoline should be selling for below $2.00 per gallon, which would make the economy take off again. However, a good economy is bad for the republican party. They, unfortunately, are praying for a recession or worse going into next years elections. So much for their PATRIOTISM. FORGET AMERICA, they are republicans first and foremost.

[freedomdanes]

I think we already have a form of Socialism going on...For the first time since the Great Depression, households are receiving more income from the government than they are paying the government in taxes...
FDRs New Deal didn't work so well. The values were NOT conservative at all. It was the same old take from those who have worked hard and "have" and re-distribute it to the poor. It was "Forced" charity. For anyone who thinks the New Deal was a success, look at the "Reedsville Project" in Arthursdale, WV. Started out with 160+ homesteads and today, it's an impoverished dump. Why, because it was a government handout. When you WORK for what you have, it means more to you. I worked for my education and guess what??? I STILL work 10-12 hours a day. I don't feel guilty for what I have. It's individuals like myself that keep helping to build this country. The USA is still a wonderful country filled with wonderful people. We just need to realize that more governement involvement in our lives isn't the answer! Noticed the USA thrived even after what FDR did to it. We can bounce back AFTER Obama is done. The important thing is to get individuals with conservative views back into office to represent us.

[noloyalisti]

If we tax the rich and develop universal health care (cut out the insurance corporations) and alternative energy (cut out the oil corporations) and join credit unions (cut out the Wall Street Bankster corporations) we can lessen the blow considerably.

[freedomdanes]

If you make slavery legal again...it will lessen the blow considerably. The slaves can do all the work and then not even the rich have to continue working.... (this is a joke)
My point is, you can't keep taxing us higher and higher and expect us to stay in the US just paying the tax bills. There are other countries that will welcome our businesses and talents.
I think people like you need to get a job and stop expecting me to foot your bill in life....

[1tymtrvlr1]

Can we at least agree that there are processes in place that allow the you to pay more taxes? If you want to live the marxist lifestyle, then please donate more to pay the bill.
All you marxist libs failed to mention the 365 billion dollars a YEAR it costs to give all illegal aliens free medical care, free college education, food credit card stamps, housing supplements, the list is endless, in 10 years we could cut the deficit by almost 4 trillion dollars, it would mean simply enforcing our immigration laws, U.S. Constitution, and using common sense. Intelligent people do not have anymore children than they can afford, so let's make more phoney baloney excuses and lies as to why the illegals should be allowed to stay in America to waste the welfare system's money, which by the way was intended for REAL Americans, not the parasites illegals. The only reason you marxists want them here is to vote to keep your worthless agenda growing. Anyone with common sense can see how your agenda has failed, and just plain sucks.

[noloyalisti]

The undocumented workers were INVITED in by the giant corporations and their government slaves by passing NAFTA. They wanted to be able to hire lower cost workers which would lower the wages of Americans. Don't you think it is time to stop blaming the victims?

[macthefloorguy]

How about you start paying your fair share again and we won't have this deficit problem. This is according to 6 republican economists from the Reagan and two Bush administrations. You were paying 70 percent, Reagan's ASININE "Laffer Curve" worked exactly opposite of what it was advertised. After 8 years of Reagan and Bush 1, we were 8 trillion in debt, thanks to Reagan's welfare for the wealthy giveaway. Herbert Hoover sold America on the same "trickle down Prosperity." Under Reagan,Hoover, and both Bushes, the ultra rich got far richer, and everybody else took it on the chin. And when, along with the encouragement of Wal Mart and the US Chamber (a political arm of the republican party) you pack up and move your factory to China, you need to get the hell out of the country as well. We won't miss you.

[verifiabletruthmatters]

I find it sad that the American People choose to be so poorly informed. You'll find all the research you need on NPR, PBS, PRI, and the BBC plus a dozen Watchdog Groups who are trying to protect the American People. There's 8-16 million Green Jobs that the Obama Administration has repeatedly tried to get off the ground, since 2009. But since the GOP has done everything in their power to undermine the RECOVERY by undermining the STIMULUS, undermining the Green Jobs because the GOP is 90% owned by the large corps and that means BIG OIL, undermining healthcare reform which is 6% of the economy and was redesigned to bring down the DEBT by $1.2 TRILLION over 10 years by reining in Medicare, undermining FINANCE REFORM by teaming up with thousands of Wall Street lobbyists to gut the Frank-Dodd Bill and have vowed ever since to repeal what little got done, etc. The GOP has done everything in their power to undermine the RECOVERY so there wouldn't be any jobs, so they can get back into power. Otherwise they would have listened to the 3 dozen economists from the LEFT and the RIGHT who designed the STIMULUS based on extensive study of the GREAT DEPRESSION and every serious RECESSION since then. Instead of mostly ignoring their input by restricting the amount to half of what was needed, putting it in the wrong form, and then gutting the help to the States such that 30 are teetering on bankruptcy and laying people off left and right. That's driving unemployment up again. 16 million kids in U.S. are homeless in 2011 and most of that is because of the RECESSION caused by 3 decades of deregulation as "derivatives stuffed with junk" damaged the economy for the 3rd time. ("INSIDE JOB" by Charles Ferguson won Oscar 2011, THE WARNING Frontline documentary, All The Devils Are Here--the hidden history of the financial crisis, Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morganson). What happened in 2008 was preventable, just like the next horrendous meltdown the GOP has in the process, Global Warming is still preventable, but not for long. 3 decades of lies because the GOP is owned by BIG OIL, well owned by all the large corps, really. It was an unholy alliance that Karl Rove created in the 1980. The multi-national put in the money to buy the Campaign-Elections and then they get to write the Legislation and gut the Regulations. And the 100 million Fundamentalists that dominate the GOP who are working to create a Christian Theocracy in the US, well they provide the votes. When the GOP gets into power you basically have Bush-Cheney all over again, because they're gonna push the same hidden agendas. The GOP is dominated by two groups--the war hawks who intend to keep the US at war permanently and the 100 million Fundamentalists who intend to create a Theocracy.(Washington Rules by Andrew Bachovich, Conservatives Without Conscience by Barry Goldwater and John Dean, Republican Gomorrah by Max Blumenthal, The Theocons by Damon Linker, Boogeyman--the Lee Atwater Story by PBS Frontline, Machiavelli's Shadow by Paul Alexander and any other Rove BIO, NPR Fresh Air: 8-26-2010, 12-16-2009, 9-15-2005, 9-23-2010 and 11-24-2009, 9-30-2007 and 10-23-09, Bill Moyers Journal 7-24-2009, 3-26-2010, AU.org, SLPC.org) But those 8-16 million Green Jobs, well those get us out of the Recession, and they grow GDP, and the DEBT becomes a smaller part of GDP, and with nearly 100% employment and the economy humming along the extra funds pay down the DEBT. And yes along the way the waste and fraud can be eliminated. But that's not what the GOP has in mind. If they get their way--the planet becomes uninhabitable and 7 BILLION people get killed. That's what happens when someone spends 3 decades being dumb enough to lie about the Physics that governs a planet. (NPR, Science Friday 1-22-2011, 3-4-2011, Need to Know 2-25-2011, 6-24-2011, NPR, the World (PRI) 3-8 and 3-9-2011. Storms of My Grandchildren by Dr. James Hansen, Science As a Contact Sport by Dr. Schneider, The Heat Is On and Boiling Point--BIG OIL continues their Disinformation Campaign by Ross Gelbspan, The Climate War--3 decades how BIG OIL conducted their Disinformation Campaign, Our Choice--3000 Climate Scientists Weigh In After Studying The Problem for 50 years, Field Notes From A Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert, HOT: the Next 50 Years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard). There are clearly options, but the GOP has not interest in pursuing them. They're entering their 4th decade in a Campaign of DECEIT with a well-oiled Infrastructure of DECEIT in place. They must be about their hidden agendas-making the Mideast the next target to justify the DoD Budget, U.S. world military domination and war, creating that theocracy with the Book of Leviticus as Rule of Law, rewriting textbooks to make them historically inaccurate, denying women birth control, telling the US military that they're "gods army doing god's will", etc..

[macthefloorguy]

A lot of good points backed by FACTS, which is just what republicans hate to hear. As Harry Truman said when a supporter yelled to him on his "whistle stop" campaign trip on a train across the country "Give em HELL HARRY", to which Truman replied "No, we're just gonna TELL THE TRUTH, AND THE REPUBLICANS WILL THINK IT'S HELL." Truman's statement is even more true now than then. Republicans don't want to hear the truth, they like simple nonsensical red meat rhetoric instead, and Fox delivers exactly what they like to hear.

[pioutsource]

When the baby Boomers start dying off in rapid succession, Florida and other retirement communities will become desolate.

Their surviving kids and grandkids do not all live the "golf" or
"Bingo" lifestyle. They will not want to move there, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes unsold.

[TheRulingClass]

The problem is us 20 to 30 year olds are being kept out of the economy in droves. This is destroying the US economy PERMANENTLY because no one is getting an experience- which is why the baby boomers are increasing in situations where they can't retire because our society has failed to cultivate the next wave.
Unless your family is near the top of the middle class or -very- connected, you are either stuck in never ending education which has become pointless or living at home.
We are in a Great Depression for sure

[Guitfiddel]

As I see it the economy was going in the right direction until we let the WOLVES lie and con their way back in the hen HOUSE (recall actions). Probably not as fast as some people would have liked it to but, it took 8yrs of the same botched up buffoonery that allowed 3000+ deaths of innocent Americans on OUR OWN soil! 4,744 kids sent home in body bags because of a LIE on top of letting Osama bin Laden get away which was supposed to be the reason we were over there in the first darn place that put us in this recession so, it would only be sane and reasonable to think it should take more than a quarter of that time to straighten out this mess that WE not just Obama was left with. JUST BEING HONEST!

[Mortarman429]

But Oabam hasnt done anything to even start trying to fix it.

[inseeisyou]

Hogwash! All that stimulus money our government blew will kick in and save us any minute now! Hold on... any second... aaaaany second...

[Mortarman429]

Oh, it'll kick in. As the bill comes due...should help kick the economy off the cliff.

[gruven13777]

Most of that bailout money went to overseas banks.