(Money/ICR poll, May 19) - More than half of all investors in America -- 53 percent -- say that they are more concerned that the conflict in Iraq will have a negative impact on the U.S. economy than they were a month ago, according to the May MONEY/ICR Investor Class poll.
Number of Investors Who Say They're Better Off Is Declining
Despite encouraging economic news, May's MONEY/ICR Investor Poll also found that the number of investors who say they feel better off than at this time last year fell below one-third for the first time since the poll started.
In February, 40 percent of investors said they felt better off; in the May poll, only 30 percent of investors say they feel better off.
In this month's poll, 70 percent of investors say they are about the same or worse off.
Investor Class Still Split on Kerry v. Bush
Investors remain divided when it comes to whether they think Kerry or Bush would be the better steward of the economy.
This month, the candidates are in a statistical dead heat at 41 percent each. Last month, Bush at 44 percent seemed to be pulling away from Kerry, then at 35 percent, but the gap has closed again this month, with 8 percent of investors still describing themselves as undecided on the question.
If Rates Rise, Investors More Decisive With Personal Finances Than Portfolios
The MONEY/ICR poll found that, should interest rates rise, investors may be more decisive about managing their personal finances than their portfolios.
When asked what changes to their personal finances would they make if interest rates were to rise, more than half of the investors poll claimed they would change their money management strategy: 26 percent said they would likely pay down credit card debt, 24 percent said they would save more money.
Only one third (35 percent) said they would do nothing at all.
However when asked how they would change the management of their investments if rates rose, more than two-thirds of investors -- 67 percent -- said they would do nothing; only 14 percent said they would buy stocks, 13 percent said they would buy or sell investment property and only 3 percent said they would sell bonds.
About the Poll
The Money/ICR poll was conducted with a nationwide sample of 615 male and female investors between May 5 and May 10, 2004. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
"Investors" for the ICR study were defined as anyone who said yes to the following question: "Do you have or own stocks, mutual funds, bonds, a 401(k) account or an Individual Retirement Account (IRA)?"
The poll was fielded by International Communications Research (ICR) using its EXCEL telephone omnibus survey of adults. ICR is one of the nation's leading market and opinion research firms and is headquartered in Media, Pennsylvania. For more information on this methodology please go to: http://www.icrsurvey.com/omni_srv.html.
MONEY is published by Time Inc. With a circulation of 1.7 million and a total readership of more than 7 million, MONEY is the largest financial publication in the world.
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