The latest Harris Poll on what the public thinks and feels about the economy makes dismal reading for the White House and the Democrats, as the campaign for this November's mid-term elections moves into higher gear. President Obama's ratings on his handling of the economy, 29% positive and 71% negative, are his worst yet. Only just over a quarter of the public think that the economy will improve in the next year (28%), and less than a quarter think that their household's financial situation will improve in the next 6 months (22%). Not only are negative views held by large majorities of Republicans and Independents, they are shared by many Democrats. Furthermore people over 65, who tend to vote more heavily than younger voters in mid-term elections, are particularly gloomy, and give President Obama even lower ratings than younger adults.

Some of the main findings of the poll are:

- President Obama's 71% negative rating on the economy is his highest ever, up from 64% in May and 68% in August. It includes 40% who rate his performance on the economy as poor and 31% who rate it as only fair;

- Democrats are split; 51% rate the president positively, but 49% agree with the 94% of Republicans and 78% of Independents who give him negative ratings;

- Matures (aged 65 and older) give the president higher negative ratings on the economy (77%) than any other generation;

- Few people (28%) expect the economy to improve in the next year. Even fewer (22%) expect their household's financial condition to improve in the next six months. This includes only 29% of Democrats who are optimistic about their household's financial condition;

- Fully 69% of all adults rate the job market in their region of the country as bad, while only 10% rate it as good. These numbers have not changed much for more than a year;

- The region where the job market is most likely to be rated as bad in the West (75%), but, of course the numbers are also very high in the East (62%), the Midwest (71%) and the South (68%).

So What?

These new Harris Poll results add weight to the expectation that the Republicans will do extremely well in this November's elections, not because the public is enthusiastic about the GOP (indeed other polls have shown that few people give it good marks) but because they will vote to express their anger and frustration at the poor state of the economy and this administration's failure to create more jobs.