Poll: Americans worried on economy, dissatisfied with country's direction

By Bernie Becker - 11/14/11 02:20 PM ET

Americans remain deeply worried about the state of the economy and broadly dissatisfied with the country’s direction, a new Gallup poll has found.

The survey found concerns about pocketbook issues spread far and wide, with the country's high employment (36 percent) and the general economy (30 percent) most likely to be tabbed by adults as the most important problem facing the U.S. today.

Those two issues far outpaced any other issue, and one or the other has been the top concern of Americans since February 2008, according to Gallup. In the latest survey, general dissatisfaction with the government came in third, at 13 percent, and other hot-button issues like healthcare and immigration polled low in the single digits.

The poll also found that just 12 percent of Americans are satisfied with the country’s current conditions, with 86 percent dissatisfied. In what Gallup calls a possible “ominous sign” for President Obama, those figures are no better than when the president took over the Oval Office some 34 months ago.

The survey comes as Washington officials continue to search for areas of common ground as they try to put a spark into the economy. The Senate last week passed measures giving tax incentives to businesses that hire veterans and repealing a government withholding provision that many businesses found onerous.

The president had included proposals in those areas in his $447 billion jobs package, and the House is expected to take up the measures this week.

With less than a year to go until the 2012 presidential election, Gallup also reported that American satisfaction with the country’s direction had remained between 11 percent and 13 percent since August.

That’s roughly three times worse than the 36 percent who were generally satisfied in August 2009, the high-water mark during the Obama administration. Gallup’s lowest ever finding on that question, 7 percent, came in October 2008, shortly after the fiscal crisis broke out.