Poll: Negativity varies state to state

Princeton, N.J -- The view of the U.S. economy among U.S. residents is clearly negative, but view points vary from state to state, a Gallup poll released Thursday indicated.

During a recent analysis of 96,822 interviews done in the first half of the year, Gallup said only 8 percent of respondents indicated positive views of the economy, while 73 percent indicated negative views.

Seventeen percent of the respondents were categorized as "mixed," Gallup said.

But, "not all states are created equal in this regard," the survey found.
Calculating "net negativity" by subtracting negative percentages from positive ones, Gallup said the five most negative states ended up with a negativity index of 76, while the five most positive states had a net negativity of 52.

Rhode Island, Maine, Michigan, Vermont and Massachusetts comprised the five most negative states, while Utah, North Dakota, Texas, Wyoming and New Mexico comprised the least negative states, Gallup said.

The nation as a whole has a negativity index of 64 of the economy, Gallup said.

The margin of error for the poll varied depending on the sample size for each state.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.