Read the full Gallup poll

The economy is nearly always at the top of the list that voters have called the campaign’s most important issue, and a new Gallup poll suggests one reason why. In a survey conducted Feb.11-14, Gallup found that the percentage of Americans saying this was a “bad time” to find a job shot up from 60 percent in January to 71 percent. This is the highest level of pessimism recorded by Gallup since 2003. Nearly one in four Americans say they are worried that they or their spouse will lose a job in the next 12 months.

Gallup’s daily consumer confidence tracking poll, conducted Feb.16-18, adds that Americans’ confidence in the economy remains low. Only 24 percent of those surveyed rated the economy as excellent or good.