PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The number of U.S. residents who feel positive about their finances has dipped below 50 percent, a poll released Friday indicated.
One big factor appears to be the political infighting over the debt ceiling, the Gallup Organization said. In early August, 53 percent of those polled said they felt positive, which has dropped to 49 percent.
A McClatchy-Marist poll released earlier this week found more than half, 53 percent, of those surveyed believe the U.S. economy is going to get worse while 41 percent say the country is over the worst of its problems. Almost three-quarters, 73 percent, say the country is still in a recession, while 25 percent disagree.
The congressional supercommittee's failure to come up with a deficit-cutting plan could increase pessimism, Gallup said. But a poll Monday suggested U.S. residents have been paying less attention to the supercommittee negotiations than they did to the debate over increasing the federal debt ceiling.
Gallup's figures on financial optimism are five-week rolling averages based on polling of 850 people a week. Gallup has been polling on the issue since 2009.
In January and February, the average hit a high of 56 percent and stabilized at a slightly lower 52 percent to 54 percent. But that dropped in late August.
