Over the past several months President Obama’s overall job ratings have been alternately holding steady and inching upward. His ratings on the economy are following suit. In March, 32% of Americans gave President Obama positive ratings on his handling of the economy while 68% gave him negative ratings. This is the same as in February and an improvement from the 25% and 75% who rated him positively and negatively respectively in December and January.

While there is still a concern about unemployment, more Americans say the job market in their region of the country is good. Over the past three and a half years The Harris Poll has regularly asked Americans about the job market in their region of the country. An average of 11% have called it good between July 2008 and January 2012, however the last few months have seen a steady rise from the 9% who said the job market was good in October 2011, to the 14% who said so in January 2012, now 20% report these feelings in March 2012. Although the numbers are improving, a majority still says that the job market in their region is bad (56%) while 24% say it is neither good nor bad.

The improvements in the job market are encouraging, as is the belief that the job market is growing. Currently one third (33%) of Americans believe the job market in their region is going to be better over the next six months while half (50%) say it will remain the same. Only 17% think it will be worse, which is lower than the 25% who said this in July 2011 and the 21% who said so in January.

Politics and the Economy

In an election year, it’s not surprising that the economy and job market are considered political issues, and it is also not a surprise that opinions differ between Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

Currently over half of Democrats (59%) and Liberals (55%) give President Obama positive ratings on his handling of the economy while only 12% of Conservatives and 6% of Republicans do; Independents (26%) and Moderates (35%) fall somewhere in the middle. Possibly showing more faith in the current administration, almost half of Democrats say that the job market will be better in the next six months (47%) — one third (33%) of Independents agree — yet only 18% of Republicans say the same. A majority of Republicans think the job market will remain the same (55%) and over a quarter say it will get worse (27%).

Despite improvements in how Americans view the job market and expect it to change over the next six months, a majority are still concerned that their family’s income will not be enough to cover all of their costs and expenses this year.

Currently 63% of Americans say they are concerned, with 26% very concerned. This is not very different from the 62%-65% who stated concern over the past two years. Not surprisingly, the higher a person’s household income, the less likely they are to be concerned about covering their costs and expenses.

However, it is somewhat alarming that large numbers of people even in the highest income brackets — 61% of those who earn $75,000 to $99,999 and 41% of those who earn $100,000 or more — say they are concerned about meeting their costs and expenses. And, despite their differing opinions on President Obama’s role in the economy and the outlook for the job market, when Democrats and Republicans were asked about their own financial concerns the story is the same: over six in ten Democrats (61%), Republicans (63%) and Independents (65%) say they are concerned that their family’s income will not be enough to cover all of their costs and expenses this year.

The economy and unemployment have been the focus for political initiatives and public discontent for some time. However, there are some possible green shoots, in that Americans overall are feeling better about the job market and President Obama’s handling of the economy than they have indicated for many months.

However, the large number of Americans communicating concern about covering their family’s expenses is disconcerting and indicates that while we may be moving in the right direction, the country still has a way to go on the road to full economic recovery. It will be interesting to see how these issues and concerns are addressed by President Obama and his Republican opponent in the upcoming presidential election.

The article Survey: Americans Feeling Better About The Job Market appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

As President Obama starts his fourth year in office, people have many opinions of the job he has done so far and these opinions have changed over the past three years. In looking at fourteen different statements there are three that have changed fairly substantially over time.

In 2010, almost three in five Americans (57%) said President Obama made other countries feel better about the United States. That number dropped to 50% last year and is now even lower, at 43% this year.

Over half of U.S. adults (55%) agree that President Obama is not changing things fast enough and in 2010, 43% felt that way. Another large shift is in the speed of change. In 2010, less than two in five (38%) agreed the President was changing things too fast; this year one-quarter of Americans (26%) feel this way.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,016 adults surveyed online between January 16 and 23, 2012 by Harris Interactive .

Looking at some of the more positive statements, each shows a decline in the number of Americans who agree. While majorities believe that the President is trying to put the country back on track (57%), trying to bring about much needed change (54%) and is open, honest and trustworthy (50%), two years ago, in 2010 between 54% and 61% agreed with each statement and in 2011 between 53% and 59% agreed.

Looking at some of the more negative statements, more than three in five Americans say President Obama has not lived up to his campaign promises (63% up from 56% who said this last year) and that he spends too much time talking and there isn’t enough action (61% up from 56%). In 2010, three in five U.S. adults (61%) believed the President hadn’t done much for them yet and that dropped to 56% last year but is back up to 58% this year.

Other findings of this poll include:

• A few things haven’t changed too much since last year. About half of Americans agree President Obama does a good job of explaining issues to people (49%) and that he is working for the people’s best interests and doing the right thing (49%);
• Less than half of Americans (47%) believe the President provides a fresh outlook with new ideas, down from 52% last year and 56% in 2010;
• Three in five Americans (59%) say the President is spending too much and creating too much debt, which is down from 61% who said this in 2010 and up from 56% who agreed in 2011; and,
• Up from 41% last year, this year 45% of U.S. adults say President Obama doesn’t care about people like them.

Partisan Differences

As it has been in the past two years, it is not surprising that Democrats agree with more of the positive statements about the President, and Republicans agree with more of the negative ones.  There are, however, a few interesting similarities that came out in the data. For example:

• Majorities of Republicans (52%), Democrats (55%) and Independents (59%) say President Obama is not changing things fast enough;
• But, at the same time, two in five Republicans (40%), one-quarter of Independents (24%) and 14% of Democrats say the President is changing things too fast; and,
• While four in five Republicans (82%) and almost two-thirds of Independents (64%) say President Obama has not lived up to his campaign promises, so do almost half of Democrats (48%).

So What?

President Obama has had a complicated year. The economic indicators are improving, but Americans are only slowly coming around to that. He’s had some big national security wins, but with the focus on the economy and jobs, the President is not getting a lot of credit.

And, there is also the focus on the Republican candidates vying to challenge the President in the fall. All of this is something President Obama has to contend with and could help explain why Americans are a little conflicted about their feelings towards him at the moment. He has some time before he has to convince the American public to re-elect him, but in order to do that he will need to work diligently to alter some of these views.

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding; NA indicates not asked in that year

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding; NA indicates not asked in that year

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between January 16 to 23, 2012 among 2,016 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with non response, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.

Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

The article The Harris Poll of President Obama’s Performance Shows Mixed Feelings appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.