Poll finds improved view on economy

Are Americans' views of the economy brightening a little?

A new Marist poll finds that the share of respondents who say that the worst is yet to come for the economy is at 53 percent. That's a lot, but it's less than the 68 percent who said so in September. Forty-one percent said the worst is behind us -- up from 35 percent last time.

The modest uptick in bearish views is likely the result of some better economic news lately. From July to September, GDP grew at a rate of 2 percent -- not great, but enough to dispel fears that the United States might slip back into a recession. Daniel Gross of Yahoo! Finance rounded up some of the other hopeful economic indicators this morning.

Still, 73 percent of residents believe the country is actually in a recession while 25 percent say it's not -- not significantly changed from September's results. It's worth noting that those 73 percent are wrong: A recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, and since the second half of 2009, the economy has been growing, though slowly.

But the more important issue is that, with unemployment still sky-high and meager wage growth, it still feels like a recession to most Americans.