New High: 52% Predict Economy Will Be Weaker A Year From Now
Americans are more pessimistic than ever that the U.S. economy will improve during the next year.
Just 27% of American Adults now believe the U.S. economy will be stronger in one year, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That’s down from 31% in June and is the lowest finding in regular tracking since January 2009. Prior to the latest survey, the number of adults expecting a stronger economy in a year’s time ranged from 31% to 45%.
Fifty-two percent (52%) believe the economy will be weaker a year from now. That’s up nine points from 43% in June and represents the first time a majority of adults are predicting a weaker economy in a year. Just 13% believe the economy will be about the same one year from now. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The two-night survey was conducted last Thursday and Friday evenings. On Friday, the federal government announced that there was zero job growth in August.
Still, more than half (53%) of Americans think the economy will be stronger in five years' time, up from 46% in June and the highest level of confidence measured since January 2010. One-in-five adults (20%) expects the economy to be weaker in five years, the lowest finding in a year. Ten percent (10%) think the economy will be about the same in five years, while another 16% aren’t sure.
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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on September 1-2, 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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