Poll: Dreary outlook on state economy - 52 PERCENT SEE 'BAD TIMES'

By Steve JohnsonMercury News
Article Launched: 01/01/2008 01:35:39 AM PST

Californians are mostly gloomy about the state's economy and they're more inclined to think it will get worse than better, according to a new Field Poll released today.
Moreover, while previous Field Polls - and this one - consistently have found people to be more upbeat than pessimistic about their personal finances, their confidence in that regard sank to a level in this poll not seen since the dot-com debacle.
"I would say clouds are looming over the California economy," concluded Mark DiCamillo, the poll's director, adding that the dreary expectations many consumers have for the coming year could hinder a recovery.
"If they are viewing things negatively, they might be a little less likely to be free-spending and they might put a brake on the economy," he said.
Of the 649 registered voters responding to the poll, conducted Dec. 10-17, 52 percent characterized the state's economy as being in "bad times."
By comparison, 20 percent said they thought these were good times and the rest had a mixed view or no opinion.
Asked what would happen next year, 25 percent believed the state's economy would improve and 40 percent said it would stay the same or offered no opinion. But 35 percent expected things to worsen, the highest percentage holding that view since 2001, when 40 percent believed the economy would sour.
Over the past few decades, the poll has consistently found people to be relatively optimistic about their personal
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finances. But while that also was true in this survey, the hopefulness was more restrained than it had been in recent years.
Asked how they and their family were doing compared with a year ago, 33 percent said they were worse off, 30 percent saw no change and 37 percent said they were better off.
However, the share of those believing themselves better off was the lowest it had been since 2002, when 35 percent held that view.
Similarly, 14 percent thought they'd be worse off in the coming year, 49 percent anticipated no change, 5 percent had no opinion, and 32 percent predicted they'd be in better financial shape.
But the proportion of those feeling optimistic was the lowest since 2001, when 32 percent also held that view.
Among those polled who consider California's economy to be in poor shape is 66-year-old Akla Nand of East Palo Alto, who retired from his machine-shop job about six months ago.
"Everything is getting so expensive," he said. The economy has been up and down in previous years, he said, but lately "it's going down and down every day."
Nonetheless, 61-year-old Michael Brown of Los Gatos, a program manager at a company that provides contract guards for the military, believes the news media has made the economy seem worse than it is by constantly emphasizing the negative.
"All people hear is, 'Geez, we're in a recession, home sales have dropped,' " said Brown, also interviewed for the poll. "I just have a lot of hope and optimism that things will turn around."

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7855675