Ever since the election of US president Donald Trump, consumer surveyors have noticed a trend: A determining factor for Americans’ economic outlook is whether they are Democrats or Republicans. …
Though the new administration has yet to enact any significant economic policy, there is a logic to the shifting expectations: Republicans are more optimistic because they are expecting Trump’s administration to eventually pass what they see as pro-growth policies—tax cuts, for example—while Democrats become more pessimistic because they fear their unintended consequences.
That makes sense. What makes less sense is that while overall confidence is growing, this increase doesn’t seem to be translating to direct measures of economic activity. CONT.
Tim Fernholz, Quartz