Americans’ evaluations of the economy have abruptly turned negative amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index is now -32, down from +22 in March. The 54-point drop is the largest one-month change in Gallup’s trend dating back to 1992, and it comes on the heels of last month’s 19-point […] Read more »
Most Americans Say Trump Was Too Slow in Initial Response to Coronavirus Threat
As the death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral, most Americans do not foresee a quick end to the crisis. In fact, 73% say that in thinking about the problems the country is facing from the coronavirus outbreak, the worst is still to come. … President Donald […] Read more »
An Unprecedented Divide Between Red and Blue America
The coronavirus pandemic appears destined to widen the political divide between the nation’s big cities and the smaller places beyond them. And that could narrow Donald Trump’s possible pathways to reelection. In almost every state, the outbreak is spreading much more heavily in the largest metropolitan centers than in less […] Read more »
Consumer Comfort Index has surrendered all its gains – and more – since Trump took office
Consumer sentiment plummeted to its lowest of Donald Trump’s presidency this week, led by free-falling views of the national economy and the buying climate. Americans’ ratings of their own finances extended their losses as well. … At 44.5 on its 0-100 scale, the CCI today is its lowest since October […] Read more »
Trump Has a Gut Feeling About What Covid-19 Means for 2020
Evidence of President Trump’s mishandling of the current Covid-19 emergency has been building steadily. Most recently, The Washington Post on April 4 (“The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged”) and The Times on April 11 (“He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure […] Read more »
Campaigning in a ‘Half-Speed Economy’
In this period of disorientation, few things are almost universally accepted. One of them is that the U.S. is headed into a recession. … Beyond the typical questions of how deep and how long the recession will be, there are questions of how lives will be changed by this extraordinary […] Read more »