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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