Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
America's Voice: Beyond the Recall
Aired August 12, 2003 - 06:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The California recall, of course, is the talk around the water cooler again this morning. But what are Americans really worried about right now?
Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport has been looking into this, and he joins us live with the answer.
So, Frank, what's the chief concern out there.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, it's very interesting. As you mentioned, all of the news is about the California recall, about Iraq and what have you. When it comes down to the most important problem facing the country today, the question we just got finished asking Americans, it's the economy. Believe it or not, Americans are more concerned about that than anything else.
Here are the responses to this question, as we categorized them -- 26 percent of Americans spontaneously say it's the economy that's the top problem. Another 17 percent volunteered specifically that it's unemployment and jobs. Then you get terrorism, but that's 12 percent. Then look at this: poor leadership in Congress, and ethics and a moral decline in America, and it goes down from there. The war with Iraq is actually below that.
In terms of the economy as well, Carol, I thought I would show you our monthly update on consumer confidence that we do at Gallup to rate the current economy. I don't have to say much about this graph, except that it doesn't look good at all. It's the excellent/good line -- that's the green line -- that we want to go up. It hasn't. It's down there mired that just about a quarter of Americans are saying the economy is in excellent or good shape. It's almost the same number who say it's in poor shape.
So, right now, the public is still not convinced that there is light at the end of the economic tunnel -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. So, does that mean more people are worried about losing their job?
NEWPORT: Oh, absolutely. It's a major issue. I don't think we can say too much about what our data shows about concern about jobs. We've tracked it every month: Is now a good time to be looking for a quality job -- question mark? This white line is the percent who say no. It was, of course, low in the boom. Look at how high it's gotten now. It's over 80 percent. Looking at it differently at that little shape at the bottom, only 17 percent of Americans say now is a good time to be looking for a job, Carol. Pretty dismal perceptions of the job market.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. Frank Newport live from Princeton, New Jersey, with some interesting numbers as usual. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired August 12, 2003 - 06:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The California recall, of course, is the talk around the water cooler again this morning. But what are Americans really worried about right now?
Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport has been looking into this, and he joins us live with the answer.
So, Frank, what's the chief concern out there.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, it's very interesting. As you mentioned, all of the news is about the California recall, about Iraq and what have you. When it comes down to the most important problem facing the country today, the question we just got finished asking Americans, it's the economy. Believe it or not, Americans are more concerned about that than anything else.
Here are the responses to this question, as we categorized them -- 26 percent of Americans spontaneously say it's the economy that's the top problem. Another 17 percent volunteered specifically that it's unemployment and jobs. Then you get terrorism, but that's 12 percent. Then look at this: poor leadership in Congress, and ethics and a moral decline in America, and it goes down from there. The war with Iraq is actually below that.
In terms of the economy as well, Carol, I thought I would show you our monthly update on consumer confidence that we do at Gallup to rate the current economy. I don't have to say much about this graph, except that it doesn't look good at all. It's the excellent/good line -- that's the green line -- that we want to go up. It hasn't. It's down there mired that just about a quarter of Americans are saying the economy is in excellent or good shape. It's almost the same number who say it's in poor shape.
So, right now, the public is still not convinced that there is light at the end of the economic tunnel -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. So, does that mean more people are worried about losing their job?
NEWPORT: Oh, absolutely. It's a major issue. I don't think we can say too much about what our data shows about concern about jobs. We've tracked it every month: Is now a good time to be looking for a quality job -- question mark? This white line is the percent who say no. It was, of course, low in the boom. Look at how high it's gotten now. It's over 80 percent. Looking at it differently at that little shape at the bottom, only 17 percent of Americans say now is a good time to be looking for a job, Carol. Pretty dismal perceptions of the job market.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. Frank Newport live from Princeton, New Jersey, with some interesting numbers as usual. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
