WASHINGTON - UNEMPLOYMENT is rising. Nest eggs are in tatters. Home values have tanked. And yet surprisingly, Americans are feeling less stress from debt these days.

Chalk it up to the power of positive thinking combined with people saving more, spending less and trimming debt to cope with the recession.

The upshot is that more people are optimistic that they'll eventually be able to get out from under a mountain of bills, a major factor behind the decline in stress from last year, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

Debt-related stress was 12 per cent lower this year than in 2008, according to the poll. 'People now have some optimism that the worst is behind them,' said Paul J. Lavrakas, a research psychologist and AP consultant who analysed the results of the survey.

The recession, the longest since World War II, is prompting Americans to take steps to get their finances in better shape. It's led to a newfound frugality that some believe will continue long after the recession ends.

Ironically, some of these changes - notably a more cautious consumer - could add to the national economy's stress. If Americans were to sharply cut back spending, that could prolong the recession and short-circuit any hopes for a recovery this year.

Meanwhile, fallout from the recession and government efforts to lift the country out of it have propelled the federal budget deficit past US$1 trillion (S$1.46 trillion) for the first time, the Treasury Department reported on Monday. The exact figure: nearly US$1.1 trillion of red ink run up in the nine months of this budget year.

There was a stark break in the poll between Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats reported a big drop in their debt stress, while Republicans registered a sharp rise, a development political scientists attributed to the election of Barack Obama, which put the White House - and economic policy - back in the hands of Democrats following eight years of Republican George W. Bush.

Now 48 per cent of those polled say the US is headed in the right direction, compared with just 18 per cent who said that in 2008, the poll says. -- AP