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Poll: Obama, Congress get blame for economic anxiety

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 76 percent in the United States fear their children will be worse off.

By Frances Burns
U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at a dinner on the occasion of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on the South Lawn of the White House August 5, 2014 in Washington, DC. UPI/Chip Somodevilla/Pool
U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at a dinner on the occasion of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on the South Lawn of the White House August 5, 2014 in Washington, DC. UPI/Chip Somodevilla/Pool | License Photo

NEW YORK, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. residents blame their economic anxieties on their political leaders, sending President Obama's approval rating to a new low, a poll released Wednesday said.

The NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll found that 54 percent of respondents disapprove of Obama's overall performance and 60 percent of his handling of foreign policy -- both new lows. Respondents also gave Congress low marks, with Republicans taking a bigger hit than Democrats.

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More than three-quarters, 76 percent, said they fear their children will be worse off than they are, 71 percent said they believe the country is on the wrong track, and 60 percent said the United States appears to be declining.

Seven out of 10 said Washington politicians are responsible.

"The American public is telling its elected representatives that the economic distress that a significant proportion of them are feeling is directly their fault," said Fred Yang, a Democrat who supervises the poll with Republican Bill McInturff. "The public seems to have moved beyond the plaintive cry of 'feel our pain' to the more angry pronouncement of 'you are causing our pain.'"

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While the share of respondents who say the economy is still in a recession has dipped from 58 percent last summer to 49 percent, many respondents described incomes that have remained flat while expenses are up. Laura Colvin, 29, who works in a fast-food restaurant in Jonesboro, Ark., said she only makes $1 an hour more than she did in 2007.

"I was doing better five years ago than I'm doing now," she said.

Luis Gomez, 64, a land surveyor in Overland Park, Kan., compared the United States to Japan, saying "the economy has flatlined."

The poll interviewed 1,000 adults between July 30 and Aug. 3.

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