A new poll shows that Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the economy and are losing confidence in President Obama's ability to handle economic problems.

The new Associated Press-GfK survey found that 86 percent of adults see the economy as "poor," up from 80 percent in June.

About half - 49 percent - said it worsened just in the past month. Only 27 percent responded that way in the same June survey.

However, most adults surveyed still put more of the blame on former President George W. Bush for the bad economy.

"I think Bush had a hand in it, too. Obama's not totally responsible," said Mary Parish, 68, in Troy, Tenn.

Parish is independent who voted for Republican John McCain in 2008. She said she doesn't believe Obama has what it takes to heal the economy.

"He's a smooth-talking man. But he does not know what he's doing," Parish added.

For the first time for Obama in the poll, a majority of all adults said they disapprove of his overall performance - 52 percent, up from 47 percent in June.

Among Democrats, approval fell to 74 percent, down from 82 percent in June. Among Republicans, it dropped to 11 percent, down from 22 percent.

The AP-GfK poll was conducted Aug. 18-22 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.