One thing that is unchanged from last month is the sense of confidence that Americans have in the Obama Administration to produce polices to help fix the economic crisis. Almost three in five adults (57%) say they are confident that the White House and the Administration will produce policies to fix the crisis while 43% are not confident. This is unchanged from March so confidence hasn’t wavered – up or down.
Looking at the economy in the coming year
When it comes to where the economy will be in the coming year, two in five Americans (39%) believe it will improve while just over one-third (35%) say it will stay the same and one-quarter (26%) believe it will get worse. There are differences in attitude depending on where one lives. Easterners are least pessimistic as just one in five (19%) believe things will get worse and 40% believe things will get better. Southerners are both more optimistic and pessimistic – 41% believe things will get better but 29% believe things will get worse. Midwesterners are just more pessimistic as 37% believe things will get better and 29% say the economy will get worse in the coming year.
There is also a racial and ethnic difference in opinion on where the economy will go in the next year. African Americans have the highest support for President Obama overall and this may translate into a sense of optimism about where things are going. Seven in ten African Americans (70%) believe the economy will improve in the coming year and only 8% say it will get worse. Hispanics are also much more positive as almost half (48%) believe the economy will improve while one in five (19%) say it will get worse. Whites are more pessimistic as only one-third (32%) believe the economy will improve in the coming year and 30% say it will get worse.
Household’s Financial Situation in Six Months
While people have confidence in economic policies, they do not believe their own finances will be getting better quickly. Specifically:
- In March, one in five Americans (20%) said, when thinking about their household’s current financial situation, they expect things to be better in the next six months while just over one-third (35%) said they expected it to be worse;
- One month later and attitudes have changed slightly. Now, just under one-quarter of Americans (23%) say they expect things to be better for their household’s financial situation six months from now and 31% say it will be worse; almost half (46%) say things will be the same; and,
- There are also regional differences on where the financial situation will be six months from now. Again, Easterners are more positive as 28% say they expect their household’s financial situation to be better six months from now. Almost two in five Midwesterners (37%) believe their household’s financial condition will be worse six months from now.
