COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - October 4, 2010) - 80.9% of Americans don't think the recession is over, according to the latest American Pulse™ Survey of 5,199 respondents. (9.3% think it is and 9.9% don't know.) Although the National Bureau of Economic Research declared the end of the recession as June 2009, 71.1% feel that the American people are the most qualified to decide when the economy has rebounded, not economists (15.9%).
It's likely that Americans still feel knee-deep in the recession since 78.6% say they have lost wealth in the past two years (21.4% don't feel they have). The top three reasons for this perceived drop in wealth: value of home declined (46.8%), lost job (40.1%) and interest rates on savings declined (38.2%).
75.2% of Americans have little-to-no confidence that the government's economic policies will get recovery rolling and 77.1% say they aren't ready to start spending like they did prior to the recession. Further, 39.7% of Americans say strong political divides in the U.S. will make it impossible to overcome the current economic situation. (27.6% don't agree and 32.7% don't know.)
This disconnect may shake up Congress this November with more registered voters likely to vote for a Republican (36%) than a Democrat (32.1%). The spread is even larger among Independent voters (30.7% v. 20.3%). One reason for this 10-point margin could be that Independents' views appear to be more in line with Republicans', such as Bush tax cuts, and having little confidence in current policies to get economy back on track. Complimentary report: http://americanpulse.bigresearch.com
| If the Congressional Elections were held today, would you be more likely to vote for a...? | ||||||||
| - - Registered- - | ||||||||
| Voters* | Republicans | Democrats | Independents | |||||
| Democrat | 32.1% | 3.9% | 72.6% | 20.3% | ||||
| Republican | 36.0% | 80.7% | 7.4% | 30.7% | ||||
| Other party | 11.2% | 5.4% | 3.9% | 25.1% | ||||
| I don't know | 20.6% | 10.0% | 16.1% | 23.9% | ||||
| *Americans who say they are registered to vote | ||||||||
Independent voters also appear to sway right for the Presidential election. If held today, more Independent voters would choose someone from the Republican Party (37.9%) over President Obama (28.7%).
American Pulse™
The American Pulse™ Survey is collected online by BIGresearch® twice a month exclusively utilizing Survey Sampling International's (SSI) U.S. panel covering topics such as politics, pop culture and the economy. Over 5,000 respondents participate, providing greater insights and accuracy of +/- 1%. www.bigresearch.com
Survey Sampling International (SSI)
Survey Sampling International is the premier global provider of sampling solutions for survey research. SSI offers access to more than 6 million consumer and business-to-business research respondents in 54 countries via Internet, telephone, and mobile. Additional client services include custom profiling, survey programming and hosting, data processing, sampling consulting, and survey optimization. SSI serves more than 1,800 marketing research clients, including nearly three-quarters of the top researchers worldwide. Founded in 1977, SSI has an international staff of 400 people representing 50 countries and 36 languages. The company is based in Shelton, CT with 14 additional offices worldwide. www.surveysampling.com
Contact Information:
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Chrissy Wissinger
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