Wealth Finance

Roughly 40 percent of Americans feel the economy is in permanent decline, according to a poll released yesterday.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the poll by New York Times/CBS, which was conducted last weekend, felt the economy was in permanent decline. Thats up from 28 percent last October.

Furthermore, only 57 percent of respondents felt the economy will ever fully recover, down from 68 percent last October.

The latest Consumer Reports Index showed that optimism about the economy is largely tied to income. While the numbers indicated that overall sentiment about the economy was slightly positive, lower-income households (less than $50,000 in yearly income), who comprised about 49 percent of respondents to the survey, had a Sentiment Index of well below 50. The more pessimistic respondents are toward the economy, the lower the number is for the Sentiment Index, and vice-versa.

For more affluent (more than $100,000) and middle-income ($50-$100,000) households, sentiment was above 50, indicating that it was more positive than negative.

In the NYT/CBS poll, only 20 percent of respondents felt the economy was getting better, the lowest figure since last August. Thirty-one percent said it was getting worse, and about half said it was staying the same.

The NYT/CBS poll was conducted among a random sample of 979 adults nationwide between June 24 and 28.

Poll: Many say economy is in permanent decline
Economic recovery remains elusive for lower-income households

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