Poll: Twice as many down on U.S. economy

LOS ANGELES, May 14 (UPI) -- A national survey released Wednesday found almost twice as many respondents were pessimistic about the U.S. economy's future as those who were hopeful.

In a recent nationwide telephone survey of 2,208 adults, 19 percent indicated the economy would improve in the next six months, while 37 percent indicated it would get worse.

Forty percent of the respondents in the Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg News poll thought the economy would stay the same.

Younger and older groups tended to be less pessimistic than those between the ages of 35-65, the Times reported.

Oil prices were the most frequently cited threat to U.S. prosperity, the report said, mentioned by 30 percent of the respondents, while 11 percent mentioned the cost of war in Iraq, the Times reported.

Joan Danley, of Cassville, Mo., said her tax rebate check, would primarily "put gas in my tank."

The survey, conducted May 1-8, carries a margin of error of plus and minus 3 percent, the Times reported.