Poll: Americans Growing More Pessimistic about the Economy
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.
Americans are more pessimistic about the country's economy than they were last month, a new CBS News poll reveals.
Thirty-four percent now say the economy is getting worse, up from 26 percent last month. Only 20 percent now say the economy is getting better, according to the poll, conducted Aug. 20 - 24. The last time views were this pessimistic was April of 2009.
Additionally, Americans' overall rating of the economy has been stagnant this summer. Over eight in 10 say the economy is in bad shape, and that negativity hasn't budged. Just 17 percent of Americans describe the nation's economy as being in good shape.
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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,082 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone August 20-24, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. 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.