Fifty-nine percent of Americans feel “not good” or “bad” about the direction the economy is headed, up from 49% in May. And 76% don’t expect their quality of life, including their spending levels, to return to pre-recession levels until 2012 at the earliest, up from 63% who said that in May. That’s according to the findings of a survey released by AlixPartners LLP, the global business-advisory firm.

The poll also finds that 74% of Americans feel the same or worse today about their personal economic situations versus a year ago, up from 71% who had that negative sentiment in May, and, in what could be a sign of either growing discontent or growing resignation in the run-up to the November elections, just 30% of Americans said that Democrats’ losing control of the U.S. House or even of the U.S. House and Senate would have a substantially positive impact on the economy in the coming year.

The survey was conducted recently as a reprise of similar AlixPartners surveys in May, Feb. 2009 and Nov. 2009.

According to the poll, Americans’ top two personal economic concerns remain the same: personal debt levels and potential job loss. When asked to pick their single-biggest worry for the year ahead, 20% said eliminating debt, the same percentage of respondents who said that in May, while 15% said potential job loss, an ominous uptick from May’s 13%.

“The Great Recession may be officially over, but the lower-plateau, ‘new normal’ economy appears very much to be sticking around for awhile,” said Fred Crawford, CEO of AlixPartners. “These numbers make it clear that Americans are still far from sanguine in their outlook for the future and their own personal economic security, and in an economy in which 70% of GDP is driven by the consumer, that’s got to concern business and politicians alike.”

The survey also found that 87% of Americans expect to spend less on non-essentials over the next 12 months, up from 83% in May. Too, it discovered that, on average, Americans don’t expect a return to their full pre-recession lifestyle and spending levels until more than three years from now.

Continued Crawford: “It seems that somebody forgot to tell Americans that the recession has ended. Either that, or else the effects of the recession, the financial crisis, increasing globalization, the loss of home values, high unemployment and other seismic factors, all happening at once, have conspired to change the American psyche in a way it hasn’t been altered in probably 80 years. From all indications, it appears that a fundamental change is upon us. And an environment in which flat is the new up in America will affect companies both in U.S. and those overseas selling to Americans, in ways just as fundamental as the changes in the consumer psyche. While American consumers make up 70% of the U.S. GDP, that’s also 16% of the global GDP. It’s a brave new world, and adjusting quickly and decisively will be an important determinant in separating the winners from the losers for domestic and global businesses alike.”