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UWM Survey: Growing Optimism About Wisconsin and National Economies

It appears a growing number of Wisconsin residents believe the state is headed in the right direction, economically.

UWM’s Center for Urban Initiatives and Research has released its quarterly Wisconsin Economic Scorecard. It asked 472 residents how they feel about the state economy and their personal finances.

Joseph Cera, who managed the survey, says the trend toward optimism started in March, although the findings are nuanced. Among them:

--61% of state respondents feel Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, up from 54.9% in July and 51.2% in March

--52.1% expect the state economy to improve in the next six months

--53.4% describe the state economy currently as "fair"

--41.5% rate their personal finances as "fair"

--60.3% report experiencing a financial problem during the last six months

The survey was conducted from October 22-25, with the margin of error being plus/minus 4.5%