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Economic Attitudes Down From Last Month
Just one-third of Americans believe country is going in right direction
NEW YORK, N.Y. – March 27, 2013 – Almost one month into sequester and the stock market continues to hit
new highs. Does this mean the American public hears the stories about cancelled White House tours and
shuttered air traffic control towers and doesn’t believe anything worse will be coming? In looking at overall
attitudes on some general economic indicators, U.S. adults do seem a little more negative when compared to
last month. And, in looking at how the country overall is going, just one-third (34%) say the country is going in
the right direction, while two-thirds (66%) believe it is heading off on the wrong track.
Looking ahead, three in ten Americans (30%) expect the economy to be better in the coming year, 37% expect it
to stay the same and one-third (33%) expect it to get worse. Last month, 32% said the economy would be better,
40% said it would stay the same and 28% said it would get worse.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,276 adults surveyed online between March 13 and 18, 2013
by Harris Interactive.
Looking at household financial conditions, while about half of Americans (49%) say their financial conditions will
stay the same over the next six months, one in five (21%) say it will get better and three in ten (30%) believe it
will get worse. In February, just about one-quarter each thought their household’s financial condition would get
better (23%) and get worse (27%); half (50%) believed it would remain the same.
Politics and the Economy
Looking at President Obama and his overall handling of the economy, one-third of U.S. adults (33%) give him
positive ratings while 67% give him negative ratings. Last month, 36% gave the President positive ratings on his
handling of the economy while 64% gave him negative ratings. Looking at this by political party, it’s not
surprising that over nine in ten Republicans (93%) give President Obama negative marks on his handling of the
economy, but so do seven in ten Independents (71%) and over one-third of Democrats (36%).
Most Important Issue
As the economy continues to sputter along, it’s not surprising that economic concerns are four of the top five
issues that Americans identify as the two most important items for the government to address, and part of the
fifth as well. Over one-quarter of U.S. adults believe the general economy should be addressed (27%) and
employment and the job issue (26%). Just under one-quarter (23%) identify healthcare (not Medicare), while
one in five (20%) specify the budget and spending issues and 16% point to the national debt.
So What?
Yes, the stock market is at all time highs and the housing market, at least in many parts of the country, is picking
up steam. But, Americans still seem to have a great deal of uncertainty about the overall economic conditions of
the country. Perhaps if they see the rally has legs this time, the sense of unease will abate and Americans will
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egin spending and not worrying as much with regard to the economy. But looking at these numbers, that
seems to be a ways off at this point, and Americans’ sense of uncertainty is still there.
TABLE 1
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING ON THE ECONOMY - TREND
"Now, turning to something different, how would you rate the overall job that President Barack Obama is doing on the
economy?”
Base: All adults
2009 2010
March April May June Aug Sept Nov Dec Jan Mar Apr May
% % % % % % % % % % % %
POSITIVE (NET) 47 49 46 43 39 40 34 36 31 32 33 36
Excellent 13 13 10 3 9 7 6 6 5 5 6 6
Pretty good 34 36 36 34 31 33 27 30 25 27 27 30
NEGATIVE (NET) 53 51 54 57 61 60 66 64 69 68 67 64
Only fair 30 27 30 27 25 27 30 30 31 30 31 29
Poor 23 24 24 30 36 33 37 34 39 37 36 34
2010 2011
June Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb* Mar May June July
% % % % % % % % % % % %
POSITIVE (NET) 32 32 29 27 31 30 33 33 33 32 27 26
Excellent 5 6 5 5 5 5 7 9 5 7 5 3
Pretty good 27 26 24 22 26 25 26 24 28 26 22 23
NEGATIVE (NET) 68 68 71 73 69 70 67 62 67 68 73 74
Only fair 32 29 31 33 30 34 30 22 29 28 30 33
Poor 37 39 40 39 39 36 37 39 38 40 43 41
2011 2012 2013
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March Feb March
% % % % % % % % %
POSITIVE (NET) 21 23 22 25 25 32 32 36 33
Excellent 2 3 3 4 2 3 5 4 6
Pretty good 18 20 20 22 22 29 27 32 27
NEGATIVE (NET) 79 77 78 75 75 68 68 64 67
Only fair 33 36 32 34 34 30 29 26 26
Poor 46 41 46 41 41 38 39 38 41
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding; *In February 2012 “Not at all sure” was offered as a
response choice and 4% responded in that way.
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TABLE 2
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S JOB RATING ON THE ECONOMY – BY POLITICAL PARTY
"Now, turning to something different, how would you rate the overall job that President Barack Obama is doing on the
economy?”
Base: All adults
Total
Political Party
Philosophy
Rep. Dem. Ind. Cons. Mod. Lib.
% % % % % % %
POSITIVE (NET) 33 7 64 29 10 33 63
Excellent 6 * 14 3 2 4 17
Pretty good 27 7 50 26 8 29 47
NEGATIVE (NET) 67 93 36 71 90 67 37
Only fair 26 21 27 28 17 32 26
Poor 41 72 9 43 73 35 11
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.
Base: All adults
TABLE 3
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE ECONOMY IN THE COMING YEAR - TREND
"In the coming year, do you expect the economy to…?”
2009 2010
April May Aug Sept Oct May June Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
% % % % % % % % % % % %
Improve 39 38 46 40 34 38 30 29 28 30 34 29
Stay the same 35 35 32 36 37 34 42 39 40 40 41 45
Get worse 26 27 22 24 29 28 28 32 32 30 25 26
2011 2012 2013
Feb June July Sept. Oct. Dec. Feb. Feb. March
% % % % % % % % %
Improve 34 26 23 21 20 23 36 32 30
Stay the same 42 41 41 45 46 47 40 40 37
Get worse 25 33 37 34 34 29 24 28 33
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
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TABLE 4
EXPECTATIONS FOR HOUSEHOLD FINANCIAL CONDITION IN NEXT SIX MONTHS
“Thinking about your household’s financial condition, do you expect it to be better or worse in the next 6 months?”
Base: All adults
2013
Feb.
March
% %
BETTER (NET) 23 21
Much better 3 3
Somewhat better 20 17
Will remain the same 50 49
WORSE (NET) 27 30
Somewhat worse 20 21
Much worse 7 9
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding;
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TABLE 5
RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK
"Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten
off on the wrong track?"
Base: All adults
TREND
Right Direction Wrong Track
% %
2013 March 34 66
2012 March 34 66
January 27 73
2011 August 16 84
May 39 61
2010 December 29 71
April 39 61
2009 August 46 54
January 19 72
2008 October 11 83
February 23 69
2007 December 18 74
February 29 62
2006 May 24 69
February 32 59
2005 November 27 68
January 46 48
2004 September 38 57
June 35 59
2003 December 35 57
June 44 51
2002 December 36 57
June 46 48
2001 December 65 32
June 43 52
2000 October 50 41
June 40 51
1999 June 37 55
March 47 45
1998 December 43 51
June 48 44
1997 December 39 56
April 36 55
1996 December 38 50
June 29 64
1995 December 26 62
June 24 65
1994 December 29 63
June 28 65
1993 June 21 70
March 39 50
1992 June 12 81
January 20 75
1991 December 17 75
January 58 32
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Base: All adults
TABLE 7
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE
"What do you think are the two most important issues for the government to address?"
Spontaneous, unprompted replies
‘97 ‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 07 08 09 10 ‘11 12 12 13
May Jan Feb Aug Dec Dec June Oct Aug June Oct Oct Mar Jan May Jan Mar Mar
% % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %
The economy (non-specific) 8 9 7 5 32 34 25 28 19 14 13 64 50 32 29 31 30 27
Employment/jobs 5 3 4 4 7 8 8 10 3 7 5 5 21 31 33 42 36 26
Healthcare (not Medicare) 10 11 12 15 5 10 14 18 11 12 25 22 25 45 18 21 21 23
Budget/Government spending X X X X X X X X X 5 6 2 6 7 9 9 7 20
Budget deficit/National debt X X X X X X X X X X X X 3 X 17 12 11 16
Immigration 2 1 * 1 1 1 2 2 3 20 12 3 4 5 10 6 5 9
Taxes 14 16 12 13 6 5 11 8 5 4 3 6 4 4 4 10 7 9
Education 15 14 21 25 12 11 13 7 8 7 6 6 5 5 7 8 7 6
Gun laws/control X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 4
Wars/Armed conflicts X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 6 2 4 3
Social security 6 6 24 16 3 2 4 4 10 5 3 3 1 1 3 3 3 3
Environment 3 2 3 3 1 3 2 1 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 2 3
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty 3 2 2 3 1 2 3 * 4 4 4 * 1 2 2 2 1 2
Crime/violence 19 13 8 10 1 2 3 1 3 2 2 1 * 1 1 X 1 2
Foreign policy (non-specific) 3 5 4 3 2 4 2 3 2 2 4 2 3 2 1 3 2 2
Bipartisanship X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 1 1 1 2
Gas and oil prices X X X X X X 1 1 10 8 2 1 1 * 12 2 12 2
National security X X 2 2 6 3 6 5 2 2 2 5 2 4 1 2 1 2
Business accountability/bailouts X X X X X X X X X X X X X X * 1 * 2
Energy X X X X X X 1 1 4 4 1 4 3 1 2 1 3 1
Downsizing government X X X 1 * X X 1 * 1 1 * 1 2 1 4 2 1
Human/civil/women's rights 2 1 * 1 1 1 * 1 1 1 2 * * 1 1 2 2 1
Military/defense 2 2 2 4 4 1 5 3 1 4 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1
Terrorism X X X X 22 17 11 7 7 4 4 3 4 6 4 2 1 1
Ethics in government * * * * 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 * 1 1 1
Sequester X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 1
Medicare 4 5 5 6 1 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 * * 2 1 1 1
Welfare 14 8 4 2 1 1 3 * 3 1 2 * * * * 1 1 1
Same sex rights X X X X X X X 1 1 2 * * 1 1 * * 1 1
Income gap/Wealth
distribution/Middle class
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 1 X * 1
Abortion 2 2 2 6 1 1 1 4 2 1 2 1 1 1 * 1 * 1
Obama/president X X X X X X X X X X 1 * * 1 1 1 1 1
Infrastructure X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 1 * * 1
Housing X X X X X 1 1 * * 1 2 2 6 1 1 2 2 1
Dependency on foreign oil X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 2 *
Homeland/domestic
security/public safety
X X X X 8 9 3 6 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 X
Inflation X X X X X X X X 1 2 3 * 1 * 1 1 1 *
Afghanistan X X X X X X X X X X X X X X * * 1 *
Religion (decline of) * 1 * 1 2 1 1 1 * 1 1 * * * * * 1 *
Homelessness 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 * 1 1 3 * * 1 * 1 * *
Iraq * * 1 X X 11 3 9 6 8 14 7 2 2 * * * *
Programs for the elderly (not
Medicare/Social Security)
1 1 1 2 1 1 3 * * * 1 1 * * * * * *
(The) war X X X X 12 18 8 35 41 27 24 14 9 2 * * X *
Overspending/wasting money X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 2 X X X
Other 8 19 2 19 3 8 8 8 1 6 5 15 5 1 3 7 8 8
Not sure/refused/no issue 9 12 16 18 11 10 12 9 8 6 8 4 4 2 4 3 2 2
* = Less than 0.5%, X = Not mentioned as specific issue
Note: Prior to March, 2009, this question was asked via telephone
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Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between March 13 and 18, 2013 among 2,276
adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were
weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity
score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of
error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error
associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey
weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are
misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure,
unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls
come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris
Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because
the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of
theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written
permission of Harris Interactive.
J42775
Q1205, 1208, 705, 713, 715
The Harris Poll ® #16, March 27, 2013
By Regina A. Corso, SVP, Harris Poll and Public Relations, Harris Interactive
About Harris Interactive
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