1 1 <p>Americans continue to rank the economy as the most pressing issue facing the country, a new Gallup survey reports. But this number has actually dropped considerably from the beginning of 2009: "Two-thirds of Americans (65%), when asked in an open-ended fashion, continue to name economic problems as the most important problem facing the country -- but this number has steadily declined from 86% in February.Mentions of the economy in Gallup's June update on this question match the net total mentions from June of last year, prior to the global economic collapse. The "net percent mentioning economic problems" reflects the total percentage of respondents who cite some aspect of the economy as the nation's most important problem. The single most frequently mentioned concern more broadly -- a general reference to the economy -- is down from 47% in May to 41% now. Specific mentions of unemployment are steady at 14%." Here is the list in order of priority:<br /></p> <p align="center"><img src="http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/37cuimbzvu2h7a_vxtkdwg.gif" border="0" alt="37cuimbzvu2h7a_vxtkdwg" width="516" height="391" /></p> 2009-06-24T23:58:27-04:00 979 false true 2009-06-25T09:39:46-04:00 2009-06-25T09:39:46-04:00