Apparently when the person running your country brags that he will proudly shut down the government regardless of the consequences, it spooks the public. In fact, it spooks them so much that maybe they flip from being more optimistic about the country's economic direction to being more pessimistic about it. That’s exactly what happened over the last month, with 48 percent of voters now saying the economy is “getting worse” in their opinion, while just 44 percent say it’s “getting better.”
Gallup notes the survey was taken Jan. 2-10, a time period that included a dreadful year-end finish for the stock market, an uptick in national unemployment, and an already lengthy shutdown with no end in sight.