this type of poll shows up whenever the economy starts to grow after a recession. it all comes down to different views on what the word "recession" means. economist define a recession to mean when the economy, as measured by the GDP, shrinks instead of grows. the public at large takes the word "recession" to mean a bad economy.
so there is no contradiction between economists saying that the u.s. is no longer in a recession and the u.s. public telling posters that they think it still is in one. technically, the public is wrong. whether the country is in a recession is a factual issue, not something that depends on a public opinion. but because the media regularly uses the word "recession" as a shorthand for "bad economy" (as opposed to just one measure of whether the economy is bad), it's not surprising that the public would come away with that impression.
so there is no contradiction between economists saying that the u.s. is no longer in a recession and the u.s. public telling posters that they think it still is in one. technically, the public is wrong. whether the country is in a recession is a factual issue, not something that depends on a public opinion. but because the media regularly uses the word "recession" as a shorthand for "bad economy" (as opposed to just one measure of whether the economy is bad), it's not surprising that the public would come away with that impression.
