|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
U.S. Conditions Today Orange County residents are feeling pretty optimistic about the direction in which the nation is headed today: Fifty-six percent say the United States is going in the right direction, while 38 percent think it is headed the wrong way. By comparison, as reported in the preceding section, local residents are not quite as optimistic about the state’s direction at this time: Fifty percent say that California is on the right track, while 40 percent say it’s headed in the wrong direction. The perception that the nation is headed in the right direction is shared across the North County (55%) and South County (58%), Latinos (56%) and whites (59%), and the U.S.-born (57%) and immigrants (54%). There are no differences in this perception across education, homeownership, or length of residence categories. The public’s optimism about the nation increases with income and declines with age. The strongest variations in attitudes, however, are related to partisanship and political ideology: Most Democrats (63%) and liberals (55%) believe the United States is headed in the wrong direction, while most Republicans (75%) and conservatives (70%) think it’s on the right track. Orange County residents express high hopes for the national economy over the next year. Nearly two in three (63%) expect good economic times, while only 27 percent expect unfavorable times. Compared to this upbeat assessment of the nation as a whole, county residents’ views on the state economy are somewhat more mixed: As noted in the previous section, 56 percent expect good times while 35 percent anticipate bad times for the state economy over the next 12 months. There is little variation in perceptions of good economic times lying ahead for the nation between North County (62%) and South County (66%) residents, Latinos (63%) and whites (65%), the U.S.-born (63%) and immigrants (63%), or across age brackets and education groups. While all groups share the perception that good economic times lie ahead for the United States, men (70%) are more likely than women (57%) to anticipate a good economy, and optimism increases with income. Republicans (79%) and conservatives (77%) are more optimistic than Democrats (49%) and liberals (52%).
“Turning to business conditions in
the country as a whole, do you think that during the next 12 months
we will have good times financially or bad times?”
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||