New Gallup Poll Reveals The Extent of Pessimism Towards The Economy

Bad news for the Democrats heading into the midterm elections in November - according to a new Gallup poll, 82% of Americans believe that the economy is still in a recession.

This is a very small improvement over September of 2009, when 84% of those surveyed said that they believed that the US economy was in a recession.

The National Bureau of Economic Research announced earlier this week that the "Great Recession" officially came to an end in June of 2009, approximately 18 months after it started. This proclamation led many Americans to collectively say - "Oh really?"

It's pretty easy to see why many Americans feel as though the country is still in a recession.

To start, the national unemployment rate in June of 2009 (when the recession "officially" ended) was 9.5%. In August of 2010, a full 14 months after the recession "officially" came to an end in the country, the national unemployment rate was 9.6%. Things are expected to get even worse as well on the joblessness front, as many expect that the national unemployment rate will surge past 10% in 2011.

If people can't find work, then it's pretty easy to see why they would think that the economy is still in a recession.

In addition, major media outlets have covering the sputtering US economy on a daily basis over the past few months, which has just re-enforced the idea in the heads of most Americans that the economy never actually returned to growth mode (which is technically untrue, but try telling that to the out-of-work population).

--

Some other sobering information from the Gallup poll:

-only 39% of Americans believe that the economy is "getting a little or a lot better", which is down from 52% in September of 2009

-61% of Americans believe that the economy is "staying the same, or getting a little or a lot worse", which is up from 47% in September of 2009

-only 45% of Americans believe that the "economy will be fully recovered or better in a year", which is down from 65% in September of 2009

-54% of Americans believe that the "economy will be about the same or worse in a year", which is up from 35% in September of 2009

Source: Gallup.com - Americans More Pessimistic About Emerging From Recession

Filed under: The Economic Meltdown