Poll: Optimism on the economy drops

Washington (CNN) - A new national survey indicates that the number of Americans who say things are going badly in the country is on the rise, as a growing number of people believe that economic conditions are getting worse.

The number of Americans who said that things were going well had been slowly but steadily rising since last fall, but numbers from a CNN/ORC International poll released Friday reverses that trend, with optimism about how things are going in the country now at 36% down seven points from April. And 63% say things are going poorly, up six points from April.

According to the survey, the number of people who say that the economy is starting to recover has also dropped five points since April, from 24% to 19%, while the number who say that the economy is still in a downturn is up six points to 39%.

"That all seems bad news for President Barack Obama's re-election chances, but only if Mitt Romney can capitalize on it," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International Tuesday and Wednesday (August 7-8), with 1,010 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.