President Obama’s re-election may depend on the public’s perception of the direction of the economy. For the first time in more than a year, one in four Americans in the Economist/YouGov Poll (Week of 1/7/2012) say that the economy is, in fact, improving.
The public may be reacting to last week’s improved jobs data, but whatever the cause, there are some positive sign for the President. 34% approve of his handling of the economy in this week’s poll. While this is still a low rating (and more than half disapprove), it marks some improvement for him over his ratings on the economy in the past year.
But despite this small improvement, much needs to be done to make the public happy about the state of the economy. Nearly half of workers are at least somewhat worried about the possibility they may lose their job. Only 23% think there will be more jobs created in the next six months. And when assessing the overall economy since 2008, when President Obama was elected, eight in ten say it’s in bad shape.
Despite more positive assessments of the economy, the President’s overall job approval this week is relatively unchanged at 41%.
Photo source: Press Association
