The most interesting findings of this new Harris Poll are:
•President Obama's ratings on the economy are still very low – 36% positive and 64% negative – but these are his best numbers this year and this is the third month in a row to show a small improvement. In January, his numbers were 31% positive, 69% negative.
•A quarter (25%) of the public expects their household's financial condition will improve in the next six months, and 28% think it will get worse. This, also, is a slight improvement from April's numbers, when only 22% thought their situation would get better.
•The great majority (68%) of the public continues to view the job market in their regions as "bad," but this is down slightly from 73% in March and 70% in April.
•Attitudes toward the job market are particularly bad in the West (75% bad) and the Midwest (73% bad) but somewhat better in the East (61% bad) and the South (63% bad).
•On a broad range of measures of economic activity, the numbers have changed very little, with no overall trend. Most people continue to say that they expect to reduce their spending on restaurants (64%) and entertainment (62%) and just over half (52%) expect to save or invest more.
So What?
This Harris Poll raises more questions than it answers. Are these modest improvements in the public's negative economic feelings the beginning of a trend or just a short term blip?
If we are seeing real green shoots and this is the beginning of a trend, how fast will the shoots grow? And if they grow, will they grow enough to reduce the anti-incumbent mood before the November elections?
