Four years after President Barack Obama was elected on "hope and change," the percentage of Americans who believe the country will be worse off four years from the election has more than doubled since 2008.

Four years ago, a Gallup survey conducted just before Obama's first inauguration found that 72% of those surveyed said America would be better off in four years, while only 20% said it would be worse off. 

Americans, rocked by the 2008 financial crisis and facing a recession, still felt optimistic that the economy would improve in 2009 with new leadership.

That optimism has now faded: according to Gallup's survey of Americans after Obama's reelection, 54% feel America will be better off in four years, but 41% say America will be worse off. Americans are still living in a sluggish economy, worse than even President Obama predicted would be the case without his stimulus program.