Americans split on view of nation's economy, direction

 

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Tylee Allen conducts maintenance on an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter aboard the USS Paul Ignatius during At-Sea Demo/Formidable Shield in the Atlantic Ocean, May 17, 2021. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathan Beard)

A new Gallup poll reveals that slightly more than one-third of Americans are “satisfied” with the way things are going in the U.S..

However, the economic confidence they have has plunged, from a +41 just before the Chinese COVID-19 pandemic struck a little more than a year ago to -7 now, under President Biden.

Cited as the reasons for the worry were COVID-19 and the government.

“Thirty-six percent of Americans in May are satisfied with the way things are going, the third consecutive month the figure has topped 30%. Though statistically similar to last month’s 34%, the current level of satisfaction is the highest measured since the coronavirus pandemic began,” Gallup reported.

Satisfaction had dropped almost down to single digits, at 11%, around the time of the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill violence and the winter surge in U.S. coronavirus cases and deaths, Gallup reported.

But the report confirmed Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index fell from +2 in April to -7 in May, a number that may have been impacted by a good jobs report in April, following by a weaker result in May.

The Economic Confidence Index has a theoretical range of -100 to +100, and “summarizes Americans’ evaluations of current economic conditions and their assessments of whether the economy is getting better or worse,” the report said.

Both readings are a “net-negative” this month.

“Twenty-seven percent of Americans now rate current economic conditions as excellent or good, while 30% rate them as poor. Meanwhile, 43% say the economy is getting better, and 53% say it is getting worse,” Gallup said.

The report said an increasing number of Americans are mentioning the economy when asked to name the most important problem the U.S. faces.

“Currently, 21% cite an economic issue — such as the economy in general, unemployment or the federal budget deficit — up from 14% in April and the highest since April 2017,” Gallup said.

The “top problems” the nation faces, however, include the government (16%), COVID (15%), immigration (12%) and racism (11%).

The results emphasized the right-left divide in the nation, with 63% of Democrats satisfied with the way things are going, but only 8% of Republicans. And two-thirds of Democrats think the economy is getting better but only 13% of Republicans agree.

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