Poll: Americans pessimistic on economy

New York -- Looking ahead, there is a sense of pessimism on the economy in the next few months among U.S. consumers. In September 2013, Harris Poll results showed that almost half of U.S. adults (46%) said, in the coming year, that they expect the economy to stay the same, while less than one-quarter (22%) expected it to improve and one-third (32%) expected it to get worse.



In October 2013, new Harris Poll results of 2,638 U.S. adults indicate that while 22% still believe the economy will improve in the upcoming year, now four in 10 Americans (41%) believe the economy will get worse and 37% say it will stay the same.



There is also a growing sense of pessimism on household finances. While just less than half of Americans (48%) say they believe their household financial condition will stay the same in the next six months, 18% believe it will get better and one-third (34%) say it will get worse. In September, 19% believed it would get better and 29% believed it would get worse.



When it comes to the job market, the sense of pessimism is not as severe as with the overall economy. One in five Americans (20%) say the current job market in their region is good, while one-third (32%) say it is neither good nor bad and almost half (48%) say it is bad. In August, almost one-quarter (23%) said the job market was good and 46% said it was bad. Looking ahead six months, one in five U.S. adults (20%) say they job market in their region will get better, 53% say it will remain the same and 27% believe it will get worse. Two months ago, one-quarter of Americans (25%) said the job market would be better in six months and 24% believed it would get worse.