Satisfaction now sits just six points above the all-time low in October 2008 immediately following sharp drops in the U.S. stock market during the global financial crisis.
The current measure ties as the ninth lowest in Gallup’s history of tracking satisfaction since 1979. All of the other similar readings were recorded in tough economic times — in 1979 during the energy crisis, in 2008 during the Great Recession, and in 2011 after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating as the federal government struggled to contain U.S. debt.
