ABSOLUTE Strategy Research, a London-based consultancy, conducts a regular survey of the attitudes of US citizens (sorry, it's proprietary, so no link). This election year, they have added a question about how respondents view the American model.

A remarkable 63% of those surveyed* agreed with the statement that the model "no longer works for the majority of Americans" (30% disagreed) while 58% did not believe the model provided an equal opportunity for everyone. Opinion was consistent on this issue by age and gender, among those with income above and below $75,000, among those with and without a college degree, in full time employment or unemployed and with those who were homeowners or renters. The only real difference on the issue was between those who identified themselves as Democrats (77% agreed) and Republicans (just 51%).

Moving on to what the politicians should do about it, the public showed a degree of confusion. Around three-quarters of all those surveyed though that the budget deficit and public debt should be tackled immediately (unsurprisingly, support was even higher among Republicans). However, when asked about their priorities for the next administration, 65% said that "getting the economy growing strongly" was the top issue, which may not be compatible with immediately tackling the deficit.

Remarkably, and discouragingly for Republicans, the second highest priority was "making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share of tax" (52% of those polled) with "making sure that companies pay their fair share of tax" coming in third (29%). Respondents could list three priorities, by the way, which explains why the numbers add up to more than 100%.

On their own economic health, more Americans feel they are worse off than better off, compared with a year ago. But there are fewer pessimists than in the previous surveys, which started in 2009. Almost 80% are worried about their financial security, a pretty consistent finding. More than twice as many respondents are worried about higher inflation than unemployment. That could be down to higher gasoline prices, although this finding has been pretty consistent over the last three years. There seems to have been some modest consumer deleveraging, with a slight fall in those having mortgages and consumer loans but 25% are having difficulty meeting their monthly debt payments, the highest figure in the survey's short history.

On my pet subject of pensions, it was interesting that, despite all the evidence of shortfalls, the average expected age of retirement is unchanged at 64. However, this may be down to wishful thinking. Those aged between 25 and 34 were still expecting to retire at 62, while those aged between 55 and 64 were not expecting to stop work until 66. The latter group is likely to have assessed their prospects more realistically. It is hard to square these retirement aims with the 72% of respondents who admit that they are saving too little and the 47% of those polled who are not prepared to take any risks with their savings. Perhaps, like the hero of many a Victorian novel, they are all hoping for a legacy from a maiden aunt.

* 1000 people were polled in February by TNS