Fox News Poll: Voters feel better about the economy, say stock market rigged

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The National Bureau of Economic Research officially declared the recession over in June 2009, yet most people still think the nation’s economy is hurting. The silver lining for President Obama is fewer feel that way today than at any time since he took office.

That’s according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.

Two-thirds of voters say the economy is in bad shape, including 28 percent who say we’re still in a recession. That’s down from a high of 55 percent who felt that way in April 2010.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE POLL RESULTS

Another 39 percent say the country is in an economic downturn, but not a recession.

A new high of 30 percent think the economy is doing okay, up from a low of six percent in 2008.

Democrats (45 percent) are nearly three times as likely as Republicans (16 percent) to say the economy is doing okay. The largest number of Republicans (45 percent) and independents (38 percent) feel the economy is still in a downturn, though not quite in a recession.

Most people are optimistic that the changes to the economy are temporary and expect things to recover to where they were before the recession (72 percent). Just 21 percent consider current conditions the new normal.

These rosier views haven’t helped Obama’s job rating on the economy. A 58-percent majority disapproves of his performance, while just 39 percent of voters approve.

Poll pourri

Nearly six voters in 10 say the stock market is rigged to favor some investors. That’s a big shift since 2007, the last time the question was asked on a Fox poll.

Twice as many voters think the stock market is rigged as say it is fair and honest (58 percent vs. 26 percent). That’s the opposite of how people felt before the 2008 crash. At that time, just 30 percent felt the market was rigged, while 48 percent it was fair.

The shift in views is across-the-board. Higher and lower-income groups, all age groups, as well as Democrats, Republicans and independents are all about twice as likely to view the stock market as rigged today.

In addition, those living in households earning more than $100,000 annually (60 percent) are just as likely as those earning less than $30,000 (62 percent) to feel the market is fixed.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,006 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from June 1-3, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.