Americans' view of the economy was unchanged in April despite encouraging data, with about a third expecting improvement in the next year and two-thirds critical of President Barack Obama's handling of the issue, a poll said on Monday.
Only 32 percent of those surveyed in The Harris Poll of 2,755 adults online were optimistic the economy would improve in the coming year, while 33 percent said it would not change. Twenty-five percent said they believed it would get worse. Those results mirrored a similar poll in October 2009.
The 67 percent of respondents giving Obama a thumbs down on his handling of the economy in April was hardly changed from last month when 68 percent of those surveyed gave him a negative rating on the critical issue, according to the poll.
The results follow on the heels of government data for March showing employers, led by the private sector, created 162,000 jobs, the highest number in three years, and retail sales jumped 1.6 percent.
The poll was conducted online in the United States between April 12 and 19. "Harris Interactive avoids the words 'margin of error' as they are misleading," the poll said.
