Half of Americans believe another recession is coming to the US

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey revealed that about half of Americans with 2/3 of Republicans are sure the country is going into another recession. 54% of the polled said they disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy.

“The public is incredibly pessimistic about the future,” said Peter Hart, the Democratic pollster who conducts the NBC/WSJ poll with his Republican counterpart Bill McInturff.

McInturff adds: “The president has substantial advantages, but is still in for a difficult race.”

According to the poll Obama’s overall job approval dropped to 49% from 52% recorded in May when his popularity was artificially boosted by the reports about bin Laden’s kill.

45% of Republicans said they were dissatisfied with the field of presidential candidates, more than double the same people who felt this way in 2008.

63% of respondents said Washington should focus more on reducing the deficit even if it slows economic recovery, and a 45 percent plurality of Americans believe the 2009 economic stimulus didn't help the economy.

Talking about raising the federal debt ceiling, Americans are split. A 39 percent plurality said it should not be raised, while 28 percent said it should be and 31 percent said they didn’t know enough.

The telephone survey of 1,000 Americans, conducted June 9-13, carries a margin for error of 3.1 percentage points.