UPI Poll: Sour view of U.S. economy

• Tweet

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Nearly 75 percent of respondents have a negative view of the U.S. economy and one-third said their standard of living has deteriorated, a UPI Poll found.

Polling firm CVoter contacted 973 registered voters by over a seven-day rollover period and said 3.6 percent of respondents said the U.S. economy was "very good" and 20.2 percent said "fairly good" for a positive outlook of 23.8 percent.

However, a plurality -- 38.7 percent -- said the economy was "fairly bad" and nearly as many -- 36 percent -- said it was "very bad," for a total of 74.7 percent on the negative side of the question.

Another 1.5 percent offered no opinion on the question.

Poll takers asked whether in the last year if a respondent's standard of living had changed. Nearly half (48.1 percent) said it remained the same but 31.5 percent said it deteriorated. Another 19.1 percent stated an improvement in standard of living.

Respondents give U.S. President Barack Obama a narrow edge, well within the margin of error, on the question of "Who do you think will grow the economy more in the next four year?" A total of 41.1 percent named Obama and 40.3 percent listed Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Poll data indicate the economy is foremost on voters' minds. Asked which on a list of issues that included crime, economy, education, international relations and terrorism was "most important", more than 60 percent of those asked said either "economic crisis (39.6 percent) or "unemployment/job-related issues" (21.4 percent).

The data carry a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.