Is the national economy currently in a recession? Is the economy headed for a recession? Or is the economy thriving?

Full results posted here.

As the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Denver, a look at how each candidate is viewed and which candidate is better able to handle various issues, broken down by fifteen states.

Full results for each state available here.

Research conducted for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke (click the graphic to read their report) and WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C.. Full crosstabs are here for the Presidential race, and here for the US Senate contest.

Two recent SurveyUSA presidential election polls to tell you about today. First, in Florida, we see Republican John McCain 6 points atop Democrat Barack Obama, in research conducted for WFLA-TV in Tampa and WKRG-TV in Mobile/Pensacola. McCain leads among both men and women here, and while Obama wins 2:1 among voters age 18-34, McCain takes more than half the vo0ters in the 34-49, 40-64, and 65+ groupings. Regionally, Obama is ahead in the southeastern part of the state; McCain leads in the rest of Florida. 

In Missouri, SurveyUSA’s polling for KCTV-TV in Kansas City and KSDK-TV in St. Louis shows McCain leading there by 5 points, 49% to 44%. McCain leads by 12 among men; Obama leads by 3 among women — a 15 point gender gap. Among voters older than McCain, McCain leads by 19 points. Among voters younger than Obama, the contest is tied. McCain leads by 28 points in southeastern Missouri, by 23 in southwestern Missouri, and by 21 in the northern portion of the state. Obama leads by 13 in the St. Louis area. The two tie in the Kansas City area. Compared to a SurveyUSA poll released ten weeks ago, when Hillary Clinton was still in the race for the Democratic nomination, McCain is up a statistically insignificant one point; Obama is down a statistically insignificant one point.

SurveyUSA polling conducted in recent days shows the economy remains on Americans’ minds, despite — or in some cases, perhaps because of — the distractions of hot weather, vacations, and back-to-school shopping.

In Columbus, Ohio, our polling for WCMH-TV shows 1 of 3 Columbus-area adults — that translates to some 300,000 households — have fallen behind in paying their bills.  Of those who have fallen behind, half are about 30 days behind in their payments; a quarter are 30-60 days behind; the remaining quarter is more than 60 days behind.

In Tampa, polling conducted in the wake of the IndyMac collapse showed 1 in 4 Tampa-area adults were worried “a lot” that there could be a run on the banks in the United States; another 45% were worried “a little.” 29% there say the federal government should use tax dollars to help make the mortgage payments of those who have fallen behind; another 24% say the federal government has a responsibility to help rescue banks that have made bad loans.

A separate Tampa poll, conducted, like the other, for WFLA-TV, found nearly half of those who currently drive to work beginning to consider car pooling; 31% were considering mass transit options; 37% — and 48% of those age 18-34 — say they are starting to think about riding a bicycle to work.

In Boston-area polling conducted for WBZ-TV, SurveyUSA finds that 62% say the United States economy is weak; 79% say the U. S. is now in recession; fully half of respondents say they worry “a lot” that the U. S. is headed for an economic depression. Many other findings in that 16-question poll, all of which can be compared to results from an identical poll run four months prior. Then, it was 56% who said the economy was week, 74% who said the country was in recession, and 42% worried “a lot” that we are headed for a depression.

In the city of Wichita, Kansas, SurveyUSA’s polling for KWCH-TV shows 61% have canceled or changed summer vacation plans because of the price of gasoline;  44% say gas prices and the economy are going to have a “major impact” on how they vote on a school bond issue there; 49% say the vote should be postponed until the economy improves.

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Washington State will hold a primary election on August 19, with contested primaries in three statewide races and several congressional districts … but even though 2/3 of Seattle area adults say they are following coverage of the primary — 22% of them following very closely — just 13% were able to correctly identify the primary date. 13% knew the primary was on the correct date, August 19; see the full breakdown on the pie chart.

Research conducted for KING-TV in Seattle. Click the pie chart to access the crosstabs.

Buckeye State residents overwhelmingly say things in both the nation and the state are “off on the wrong track,” according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WCMH-TV in Columbus, the state capital.

80% of Ohioans say things in the United States are off on the wrong track; just 15% say things are headed in the right direction. Republicans are 3.5 times as likely as Democrats and 1.5 times as likely as independents to say things are headed in the right direction.

75% of Ohioans say things in Ohio are off on the wrong track; 21% say things are headed in the right direction. Here on the state level, there is no difference in the opinions of Republicans and Democrats — but both are twice as likely as independents to say things are headed in the right direction.

Looking at the economy, 58% of Ohio adults say the national economy is weak; just 4% say it is strong; 38% say it is somewhere in between. Democrats are significantly less optimistic then Republicans when it comes to the national economy: 41% of Republicans describe it as weak, compared to 72% of Democrats.

60% of Ohioans say the Ohio economy is weak; 4% say it is strong; 35% say it is in between. Again we see fewer party line differences at the state level; while Democrats do have a more negative view of the state economy than Republicans do, the differences are far less pronounced than they are when respondents are asked about the national economy.

The 2nd Congressional District in Central Kentucky were George W. Bush’s strongest in the state, electing him with 62% of the vote in 2000 and re-electing him with 65% of the vote in 2004. The Cook Political Report rates the district a “Solid R” and gives it a +13 Partisan Voting Index. It sent Republican Ron Lewis to Washington in 1994, and did so again every two years through 2006.

Lewis announced his retirement in January, however, and now two state senators — Republican Brett Guthrie and Democrat David Boswell — are in a statistical tie in the race to replace him.

SurveyUSA’s exclusive poll for WHAS-TV, released yesterday, shows Boswell– the Democrat — leading by 3 points — within the survey’s 4.3 percentage point margin of sampling error, but still quite a surprise for a “Solid R” +13 district.

WHAS political reporter Mark Hebert blogged about the poll here.

Research conducted for WBZ-TV Boston. Click the chart to see the crosstabs.