Economic Conditions

Despite the imploding stock market, the looming recession, the unpopular president and the dismal political polls, there's very good news in the one realm of life that’s always been a special sanctuary for Republicans. Personal happiness.

Overview Americans are concerned about the nation’s economic problems almost to the exclusion of every other issue, and they register the lowest level of national satisfaction ever measured in a Pew Research Center survey. Just 11% say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country – down 14 points in the […]

World Already Saw U.S. Influence as Negative

The relative stability in the overall numbers obscures considerable movement in public opinion about the package recently passed by Congress.

The current economic slowdown has taken a far greater toll on non-citizen immigrants than it has on the United States population as a whole.

Members who voted against the original House bill are said to be responding to strong opposition to the rescue plan from their constituents, but that’s not what most Americans are saying.

Overview As Congress debated the financial bailout bill over the past week, public support for government action has declined. A new Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 27-29 finds a narrow 45%-38% plurality of the public saying that a government plan to invest or commit billions of dollars to secure financial institutions is the right […]

Online activists and concerned citizens are using the internet to learn about the financial crisis, share their views on the proposed bailout, and organize their friends.

Overview By a margin of almost two-to-one the American public thinks the government is doing the right thing in investing billions of dollars to try to keep financial institutions and markets secure. Reacting to initial reports of the federal bailout plan over the weekend, 57% said the government was doing the right thing, while 30% […]

Economic Concerns Pervasive in Japan