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Poll finds high anxiety on US economy this month

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-20 21:12

WASHINGTON -- With little relief in sight, people in the United States are getting more anxious about the slumping economy and how it affects them.

The share of people who believe the country is moving in the right direction has plunged in just a few weeks, from 28 percent in September to 15 percent in October, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll of likely voters that was released Monday.

Related readings:  Bruised US economy likely to limp into next year  Obama, McCain clash on economy in final debate  NY stock prices lose 8 percent amid pessimism about economy  Bernanke says US economy faces big threat

At the same time there is a drop in those surveyed who say they are happy about the way things are going in their own lives. Now 59 percent say they are personally happy, compared with 70 percent last month.

The magnitude of the financial meltdown and its impact on the overall economy is hitting people hard across the social and economic spectrum.

Strikingly, one-third are worried about losing their jobs, half fret they will be unable to keep up with mortgage and credit card payments, and seven in 10 are anxious that their stocks and retirement investments are losing value, according to the poll.

Also, there is widespread distress about being able to afford unexpected medical expenses and children's college expenses, and having to postpone retirement because their savings have eroded, the survey found.

"I'm just a normal person trying to get by in life," said Mary Huss, 57, an unemployed social worker from Salinas, Calif., who is facing cash shortages and questions about how she will pay her medical costs and her teenagers' college expenses. "And yet I feel fortunate that I'm not in the place where a lot of Americans are where they're losing their homes."

The AP-Yahoo News poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks, has repeatedly interviewed a group of about 2,000 people since last November in an effort to get a person-by-person view of how the country is reacting to the presidential campaign and the events affecting it.

The picture the survey paints of those who have grown less happy since September is telling. One-third are retirees.

James Haste, 78, of Arvada, Colo., is among those who have watched their retirement savings shrink.

In September he said the nation was headed in the right direction. Now he is among the 84 percent who say it is hurtling off track. The retired engineer lists the financial crisis, the energy situation and rising unemployment as the top problems.

"Markets are going to come back, but not soon," he said. Banks and other financial institutions "are going to have to write off a lot of bad stuff, and who's going to take the hit? The banks can't do it if they're going to stay in business. It's a slow process."

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