Poll: Californians remain gloomy on economy
By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee
The recession ended three years ago and unemployment is falling – but try telling that to most Californians.
Despite evidence of a recovery, a resounding 88 percent of California voters believe the state’s economy is enduring “bad times,” according to the latest Field Poll.
What’s more, they generally don’t expect a big improvement in the next 12 months. Just 31 percent foresee the economy improving, and 24 percent believe it will get worse. The rest expect the economy to simply tread water.
The results show that most Californians don’t buy into “the official numbers about how the economy is performing,” said poll director Mark DiCamillo. “Not much optimism there.”
In the three years since the recovery officially started, the number of Californians who believe the state is in bad times has fallen from 96 percent to 88 percent. Pollsters, economists and citizens alike believe the gloomy sentiment is emblematic of the weak pace of economic recovery.
