78% of American singles would go on a date with someone who is unemployed; 85% think that dating can be fun without spending money.

In a recent online poll conducted by Zoosk, the world’s largest social dating community with more than 30 million users, American singles responded overwhelmingly that realities caused by the recession – such as unemployment, living with parents, and planning a date that revolves around free activities – are not deterrents to an active dating life.

Overwhelmingly, the poll found American singles do not view unemployment as a barrier to dating. 78% of singles said they would date someone who is currently unemployed. Men were more inclined to do so; 92% of men said they would date a woman who is unemployed. Slightly more than half (52%) of women said they would date a man who is currently unemployed.

“Everyone has heard that the economy is drawing more people to online dating, but we wanted to hear how singles felt about going on a date with someone who has been personally affected by the economy,” said Alex Mehr, co-founder and co-CEO of Zoosk. “The results of this poll show that singles are not letting the economy get in the way of their dating lives.”

The poll also asked participants if they would go on a date with a man or woman who admitted they were living with their parents. The response indicates this situation is not a “dating deal-breaker” for singles. 80% responded that they would go on a date with someone who lives with their parents.

Finally, when asked if a date that “revolves around a free activity” was a turn-on or a turn-off, 85% of respondents responded that dating can be fun without spending money. Only 15% of respondents (11% of women and 17% of men) said that it does not feel like a “real date” to do something free.

The Zoosk poll was conducted online in May 2009 and fielded 1,009 responses from singles in the United States who use Zoosk. 89% of Zoosk members are under age 40, and 65% are under age 30.

The growth of social networks like Facebook as well as positive word-of-mouth about Zoosk is driving rapid growth of the company’s user-base. Zoosk has grown to more than 30 million users in May 2009 up from 16.5 million users in January 2009.

Users can join Zoosk by adding the Zoosk application through Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Friendster, and MySpace, or by signing up at Zoosk.com. Zoosk is the only social dating community that allows users to seamlessly connect across multiple networks, meaning a Facebook user can interact with a MySpace or Hi5 user, for example.