Thursday, September 13, 2012

Record Partisan Gap in Views of Economic News

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 7-9, finds that views of economic news are far more positive than they were in August 2011, when 67% said economic news was mostly bad.

Just 15% of Democrats say recent economic news is mostly bad, down from 31% a month ago and among the lowest percentages over the last four years.

Six-in-ten Republicans (60%) say news about the economy is mostly bad, as do 36% of independents. Opinions among Republicans and independents are largely unchanged from a month ago.

Public perceptions of news about the job situation remain negative, but no more negative than during the past few months. About half (52%) say they are hearing mostly bad news about the job situation. The percentage hearing mostly bad news about jobs has been about at this level since June; in March just 38% said the news about jobs was mostly bad.

More than twice as many Republicans (75%) as Democrats (34%) say news about the job situation has been mostly bad. Democrats’ views of job news are less negative than last month, when 43% said the news was mostly bad. Opinions among Republicans (75% now mostly bad) and independents (now 54%) are largely unchanged over this period.

There also are substantial differences in how Republicans and Democrats view recent news about specific economic sectors. Half or more Republicans say the news about all the sectors included in the survey has been mostly bad. For Democrats, news about only one sector – gas prices – stands out as particularly negative (65% mostly bad).

No comments:

Post a Comment