The period from 1999 to 2007 is the longest in modern U.S. economic history in which inflation-adjusted median household income failed to surpass an earlier peak.
Slightly more than a quarter of registered voters call themselves Republicans, a low in 16 years of polling by the Pew Research Center; most GOPers now think their party should move further to the right.
The public is evenly divided over spending billions to help homeowners who are facing foreclosure on mortgages they cannot afford but most supporters say they are bothered by it.
Just under half (48%) of the public says spending billions of dollars to help keep financial institutions secure is the right thing to do; 40% say it is wrong.