AP-GfK Poll: In 2012, it can only get better

Graphic shows opin­ion poll of the year. (Asso­ci­ated Press)

JENNIFER AGIESTA

Asso­ci­ated Press

WASHINGTON — Amer­i­cans are hope­ful for what 2012 will bring for their fam­i­lies and the coun­try, accord­ing to a new Asso­ci­ated Press-GfK poll, though most say 2011 was a year they would rather forget.

Nearly seven in 10 say the year gone by was a bad one, more than dou­ble those who con­sider it a suc­cess, accord­ing to the poll. But 62 per­cent are opti­mistic about what 2012 will bring for the nation, and more, 78 per­cent, are hope­ful about the year their fam­ily will have in 2012.

Jeff Wolfe, 33, of Farm­ing­ton, W.Va., said 2011 treated him well because he was able to find steady work as a line­man. But for the rest of the nation, things were “pretty rough,” with so many Amer­i­cans look­ing for jobs, he noted.

“For the first time since 2009, I worked all year,” he said. Wolfe said he lost work in 2008 and again in 2010. But in 2011, the father of two school-age chil­dren said he was able to catch up on bills, buy his wife a new car and ren­o­vate his home.

Over­all, the poll found 68 per­cent of Amer­i­cans described 2011 as a bad year, com­pared with 29 per­cent who felt it was a good one.

A par­ti­san divide, much like the one that ruled Wash­ing­ton this year, seems the only split in pub­lic opin­ion on 2011. Democ­rats were most likely to view 2011 pos­i­tively (40 per­cent called it good), while inde­pen­dents and Repub­li­cans were less effu­sive. Beyond that, the poll found gen­eral agree­ment that 2011 is best left in the past.

Mary Burke, 57, of Ridge­land, S.C., felt eco­nomic pain in 2011. She saw prices rise for all of her expenses, from her light bill to gro­ceries. “Pay­ing $5 for a jar of may­on­naise is out­ra­geous,” she said.

Food and gas prices surged in 2011, but the most recent Con­sumer Price Index shows infla­tion lev­el­ing off. Novem­ber sta­tis­tics from the gov­ern­ment showed a year-over-year infla­tion rate of 3.4 per­cent, the small­est such rise since April.

The AP-GfK poll found con­sumers are sens­ing the change. Just 18 per­cent of adults expect con­sumer prices to rise at a faster pace in the com­ing year, the low­est share to say so since the poll first asked the ques­tion in March. Most (51 per­cent) expect prices to rise at the same rate or more slowly.

And as the nation’s eco­nomic for­tunes over­all appear to be tilt­ing slightly pos­i­tive, the public’s expec­ta­tions for the econ­omy in the com­ing year are at their high­est point since spring. Accord­ing to the poll, 37 per­cent expect eco­nomic improve­ment in the next 12 months, com­pared with 24 per­cent who think the econ­omy will slide down­hill. That’s the first time since May that sig­nif­i­cantly more peo­ple said things will get bet­ter than get worse.

On a per­sonal level, 36 per­cent think their household’s finan­cial sit­u­a­tion will improve over the next 12 months, while 11 per­cent think it will worsen. Amer­i­cans’ finan­cial ebbs and flows affect their per­sonal out­look for 2012. Those whose house­holds have faced a job loss in the past six months or who describe their cur­rent finan­cial sit­u­a­tion as poor are less opti­mistic about what 2012 holds for them and their fam­i­lies than oth­ers, though that does not carry over to their fore­cast for the nation in 2012.

Opti­mism about the nation’s path varies with views of the economy’s direc­tion. Those who say things have looked bet­ter in the past month are gen­er­ally opti­mistic (79 per­cent), while just half of those who say things are get­ting worse feel pos­i­tive about what 2012 holds for the coun­try. And about 6 in 10 of those who dis­trust the two major polit­i­cal par­ties to han­dle the econ­omy or job cre­ation are pes­simistic about how 2012 will turn out for the nation.

Burke said she is angered by politi­cians in Wash­ing­ton who she believes fail to look out for the inter­ests of the Amer­i­can people.

“They don’t care about me and you,” she said. “They only care how they are going to line their pock­ets.” As for the econ­omy and nation improv­ing in 2012, she said, “I pray and hope.”

The par­ti­san divide in impres­sions of 2011 per­sists in the out­look for 2012, with Democ­rats more opti­mistic than either Repub­li­cans or inde­pen­dents. But expec­ta­tions for next year’s pres­i­den­tial con­test appear not to be a fac­tor. Most par­ti­sans on both sides fore­see vic­tory for their side in the Novem­ber 2012 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion: Three-quarters of Democ­rats say they think Pres­i­dent Barack Obama will win re-election; three-quarters of Repub­li­cans say he will not.

The Asso­ci­ated Press-GfK Poll was con­ducted Dec. 8–12 by GfK Roper Pub­lic Affairs and Cor­po­rate Com­mu­ni­ca­tions. It involved land­line and cell­phone inter­views with 1,000 adults nation­wide and has a mar­gin of sam­pling error of plus or minus 4 per­cent­age points.

Posted by AP News on Dec 29 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.