American Pulse™: It’s the Economy...Fix It

   Economy and Government Spending Top Concerns

COLUMBUS, OH – (MARKET WIRE) – 10/23/09 – A majority of Americans (55.5%) think the #1 issue that the President and Congress should be focusing their attention on is the economy, according to the latest American Pulse™ Survey of over 5,015 participants. Following not so closely behind is: Healthcare Reform (18.3%), Terrorism (6.4%), Social Security (5.8%) and Afghanistan (5%).

81.9% of Americans say the U.S. Government is spending too much. Of those who agree, 76.9% say the high level of spending may be sacrificing future economic growth. Over 60% of Americans have negative feelings towards Government spending.

Regarding Government spending, which of the following best describes your feelings?                  

                                          Adults 18+ 
Angry, debt is bad                        30.7%
Happy, debt is good if it helps people    6.2%       
Powerless, no one in Government           37.8%
seems to care    
Empowered, the more Government            6.1%       
does, the better it is for everyone
Unsure                                    19.3%

Other key findings:

·         78.6% are spending less during the recession. Of those, 61.5% are paying off debt and 34.3% are saving the money they aren’t spending.

·         49.8% think the proposed healthcare legislation would raise the cost of typical healthcare policies.

·         21.4% say they are more concerned about the H1N1 Virus than they were in April...61.1% are worried the same and 17.4% are worried less.

On a lighter note, Florida is the run away favorite for college football fans in the first American Pulse People’s Poll for college football.

Which college football team do you think is the #1 team in the country? (Adults 18+) TOP TEN

Florida (27.5%)
USC (7.3%)
Alabama (6.2%)
Texas (5.7%)
Ohio State (4.1%)
Michigan (3.7%)
Oklahoma (2.8%)
Penn State (2.5%)
LSU (1.8%)
Notre Dame (1.7%)

For the full complimentary report (segments include age, income, gender and political party): http://americanpulse.bigresearch.com.

About American Pulse™
The American Pulse™ Survey is collected online by BIGresearch every month exclusively utilizing Survey Sampling International’s (SSI) U.S. panel covering topics such as politics, pop culture and the economy. Over 4,000 respondents participate, providing greater insights into how Americans really feel about issues they currently face. The use of the Artafact online blog as a listening post to develop the questions posed in the monthly American Pulse survey is a very effective use of both online qualitative and quantitative research.  http://www.bigresearch.com

About Survey Sampling International (SSI)
Survey Sampling International is the premier global provider of sampling solutions for survey research. SSI offers access to more than 6 million consumer and business-to-business research respondents in 54 countries via Internet, telephone, and mobile. Additional client services include custom profiling, survey programming and hosting, data processing, sampling consulting, and survey optimization. SSI serves more than 1,800 marketing research clients, including nearly three-quarters of the top researchers worldwide. Founded in 1977, SSI has an international staff of 400 people representing 50 countries and 36 languages. The company is based in Shelton, CT with 14 additional offices worldwide. http://www.surveysampling.com

Contacts:
BIGresearch                                                     SSI
Chrissy Wissinger                                              Diane Urso
chrissy@bigresearch.com                                  diane_urso@SurveySampling.com
614.846.0146                                                     203.567.7236