THE TIMES POLL : The Times Economic Index
The Times today introduces a new way of examining public perceptions about the state of the economy--The Times Economic Index. On a regular basis, the Index--drawn from surveys by The Times Poll--will review public attitudes about the economy nationwide, statewide or in Southern California.
After months of rising expectations, the public’s view of the U.S. economy has settled on a plateau, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll.
Nationwide, the split between those who viewed the economy as robust and those who considered it shaky stayed virtually the same compared with a month ago. Similarly, people’s expectations for jobs and the economy generally--while still positive--were essentially the same as in a January survey by The Times. People’s purchasing plans remained flat.
The new survey, conducted shortly after President Clinton unveiled his economic program last week, suggests that people’s attitudes remain substantially more upbeat than late last year, however.
Just 25% of respondents said the country still was stuck in a serious recession, for example, compared to a gloomier 46% in October. The 25% figure was virtually the same as a month ago, when 27% also said the nation was in a slump.
Other questions revealed a similar pattern.
About 30% said the nation was not in a recession--a much more buoyant response than the 9% who felt that way last October. But the optimistic group grew over the past month; in January, 25% said the slump was over.
The percentage who described their household finances as secure (62%) edged up a bit from January, when that group shrunk to 57% following the holiday spending season.
HOW THE POLL WAS DONE:
The Times Economic Index is based on a set of questions asked regularly by The Times Poll to measure Americans’ feelings about the strength of the economy. The questions include measures designed to gauge the current situation plus predictor questions which seek the public’s assessment of conditions three months in the future. The regional report is derived by examining the trends on all index questions within the four major regions of the nation. The arrows show whether the general trend for each indicator is positive, negative or neutral since the last poll. The latest survey was conducted Feb. 18 and 19 among 1,273 adults nationwide. The margin of sampling error on percentages is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher.
Note: Numbers do not add up to 100 because “don’t know” and “unchanged” responses are not shown.
