Unemployment to fall below eight per cent before polls: Obama

US President Barack Obama said he believes unemployment rate will fall below eight per cent by the time American voters cast their votes to choose next president in November 2012, according to an interview broadcast on Sunday night.

In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes", Obama said he thinks "it's possible" that the unemployment rate will be down to eight per cent by the time the election begins.

READ: US jobless claims at 9-month low

However, Obama said he's "not in the job of prognosticating on the economy", and what he does is "putting in place the tools that allow the economy to thrive and Americans to succeed".

He said Americans who are struggling have "every reason to be impatient," but "reversing structural problems in our economy that have been building up for two decades, that was going to take time", reported Xinhua.

With the economy facing strong headwinds and unemployment rate high, the presidential election has an unusually strong emphasis on the economy, and how the economy fares next year could have a bigger impact in the results of the election than previous elections.