In the midst of a heated presidential election campaign, it’s clear that America is a nation divided on both personal pocketbook issues and those relating to the national economy. Some of these differences play out along partisan lines. For instance, Democratic consumer sentiment increased markedly relative to Republican consumer sentiment […] Read more »
July consumer confidence: Improved finances and low interest rates support spending
Consumers were a bit less optimistic in July than one month or one year ago, although consumer confidence remains at a reasonably high level, according to the University of Michigan (U-M) Surveys of Consumers. The recent decline was due to rising concerns about prospects for the economy that were mainly […] Read more »
Economic Confidence Stuck at Lower Level
Americans’ confidence in the economy remains weak, with Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index at -17 last week, consistent with levels seen since mid-June. This is in contrast to the stronger confidence levels seen for most of the first half of the year, when the index averaged -12. CONT. Alyssa Davis, […] Read more »
How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump
… Trump’s white working class supporters — who provide somewhere between 58 and 62 percent of his votes, according to data from NBC and ABC polls — have suffered a stunning loss of relative status over the past 40 years. Their wages have stagnated or declined; the ascendance of minorities […] Read more »
How do people really feel about the economy?
… This post will not tackle the substance of Americans’ worries about the economy but instead highlights a puzzle arising from pollsters’ efforts to quantify those worries. I’ll show that, when Americans are asked specifically about the economy, in an apolitical context, they are for the most part not nearly […] Read more »
No Immediate Brexit Effect on U.S. Economic Confidence
The United Kingdom’s decision Thursday to exit the European Union did not immediately affect Americans’ confidence in the U.S. economy. Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index was -16 in three-day rolling averages recorded before and after the referendum. CONT. Justin McCarthy, Gallup Read more »