Today’s Gallup poll on the economy is either bad news or good news, depending on your point of view. On the one hand, Americans are no more pessimistic about the economic outlook than than were last month. On the other, 43 percent rated the economy as “poor” while only 16 percent said conditions were good or excellent.

And the stability – and negativity – persist when Americans were asked about the future. Eighty-six percent of respondents thought economic conditions were getting worse, while just 10 percent thought they were getting better.

There were no stark differences among groups, but Gallup does note: “Americans living in high-income households, Republicans, and residents of the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states are a bit more likely to have a positive economic outlook than are others; but even the vast majority of these groups are negative about the economy.” As an example: 15 percent of Republicans were upbeat, compared to just 3 percent of Democrats.

The nationwide poll was conducted May 1-13 and the margin of error was +/- 1 percent.