The latest Pew poll shows Philadelphians are generally optimistic about the city and its future, but some of the other data makes you wonder why. On the positive side, 41 percent of the respondents said the city was on the right track, compared to 34 percent who said wrong track and 63 percent of those polled rated Philadelphia as an excellent or good place to live. On minus side, 65 percent described their personal financial condition as "only fair" or "poor" and - raise your eyebrows here - 49 percent said that someone in their household had been unemployed or looking for work at some time in the past 12 months. The scars of this recession run deep. Pew does regular polling of Philadelphians' psyche as part of its Philadelphia Research Initiative. Go here for a .pdf of the poll.
