These are the topline results of a YouGov/Economist survey of 1000 US adults interviewed November 9-11, 2013 on economic predictions. The results show that a many Americans are pessimistic, and a majority support a minimum wage increase. The margin of error is 4.8%.
Click here to see full tables and demographic crossbreaks
Do you think the federal minimum wage should be changed?
Yes, increased significantly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35%
Yes, increased a little bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27%
No, it should not be changed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21%
Yes, decreased a little bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3%
Yes, decreased significantly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8%
Do you think a federal minimum wage of $10.10 per hour is too high, about right, or too low?
Too high . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27%
About right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47%
Too low . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7%
Do you think President Barack Obama is doing enough to create new jobs for Americans or should he do more?
Doing enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15%
Should do more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17%
Do you think Republicans in Congress are doing enough to create new jobs for Americans or should they do more?
Doing enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11%
Should do more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15%
Looking ahead, which would you say is more likely, that in the country as a whole unemployment rates during THE NEXT YEAR will increase, decrease or remain about the same?
Unemployment rates will be a lot lower than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3%
Unemployment rates will be somewhat lower than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20%
Unemployment rates will be about the same as they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25%
Unemployment rates will be somewhat higher than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19%
Unemployment rates will be a lot higher than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16%
Looking ahead, which would you say is more likely, that in the country as a whole unemployment rates during THE NEXT FIVE YEARS will increase, decrease or remain about the same?
Unemployment rates will be a lot lower than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7%
Unemployment rates will be somewhat lower than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21%
Unemployment rates will be about the same as they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20%
Unemployment rates will be somewhat higher than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17%
Unemployment rates will be a lot higher than they are today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20%
Overall, do you think the economy is getting better or worse?
Getting better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%
About the same . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39%
Getting worse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6%
Do you think the stock market will be higher or lower 12 months from now?
Higher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24%
About the same . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39%
Lower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23%
Six months from now, do you think there will be...
More jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18%
The same amount of jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42%
Fewer jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27%
Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12%
How happy would you say you are with your current job?
Very happy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23%
Happy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35%
Neither happy nor unhappy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30%
Unhappy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7%
Very unhappy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6%
How would you guess your total family income to be six months from now?
Higher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16%
Same . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67%
Lower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18%
If you lost your job, how long would it be before you exhausted your savings?
I don’t have any savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37%
I could last a few weeks on my savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19%
I could last a few months on my savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26%
I could last a year on my savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9%
I could last more than a year on my savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9%