Fed Fallout

A U.S. Federal Reserve survey released this week suggested that while “economic conditions remained weak or deteriorated further” between mid-April and May, the pace of decline may be moderating in some parts of the country.

How do Americans feel about the job the Federal Reserve is doing? Only 59 percent of Americans surveyed in an online Harris Interactive poll in March were familiar enough with the Federal Reserve to have an opinion about it. Of these, only one-third thought it was doing an “excellent” or “pretty good” job. Forty-two percent said they were familiar enough with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to have an opinion about him, and 34 percent rated his job performance as “excellent” or “pretty good.” Even fewer (35 percent) were familiar with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and 33 percent said he was doing an “excellent” or “pretty good” job.

According to Harris Interactive’s May poll, Americans’ familiarity with Bernanke remains the same (43 percent), but the percentage assessing his job performance positively has fallen to 19 percent. Familiarity with Geithner has increased (41 percent) but only 16 percent say he is doing an “excellent” or “pretty good” job.

Source: Harris Interactive online, May 2009.