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BUSINESS

Economic Optimism At Lowest Levels In Over Two Years

Just days after the government's announcement that unemployment has risen to 9.1%,  short- and long-term confidence in the U.S. economy are at the lowest levels of the Obama presidency.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 31% of American Adults now say the economy will be stronger in one year, down four points from March and lower than at any point since January 2009.  Forty-three percent (43%) expect the economy to be weaker in a year’s time, while 15% say the economy will stay about the same. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Forty-six percent (46%) of Americans expect the economy to be stronger in five years. That’s unchanged from March, which marked the lowest level of optimism in over two years of surveying. Twenty-four percent (24%) expect the economy to be weaker five years from now, while 10% believe economic conditions will remain. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided.

By comparison, in January 2009 as President Obama prepared to take office, 39% expected the economy to be stronger in one year, and 62% felt it would be stronger in five years.  Americans have been consistently more optimistic about the economy in the long-term than in the short-term.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
 
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 5-6, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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