Americans’ economic confidence has slipped overall in recent months, but with partisan differences: Republicans view it more positively while the outlook among Democrats has worsened, according to a new survey released Tuesday.
Gallup’s “Economic Confidence Index,” which has a theoretical range of +100 to -100, summarizes Americans’ view of the current economic conditions and the outlook on the economy. It now sits at -19, slightly down from -14 in December, but higher than the -26 that was registered before last year’s presidential election.
The highest score since the index was developed was in January 2000 with +56. The lowest was in October 2008 at -72, Gallup noted.
With President Trump’s triumph in November over former Vice President Harris, Republicans’ score has ticked up in recent weeks, while it has dropped significantly among Democrats. A similar partisan trend was seen after former President Biden’s win in the 2020 election.
The score has gone up by 30 points among GOP voters, the same amount it has diminished among Democrats. Among independents, it increased by 16 points, according to the poll. Democrats still have the highest score with +7. GOP voters have it at -42, while independents clocked in at -18.
The survey also found that around 26 percent of Americans said the economic conditions are “excellent/good.” Another third of respondents, 33 percent, characterized economic conditions as “only fair,” while another 40 percent said they are “poor.” The figures give a -14 index score, the same one for three months in a row, Gallup noted.
Nearly half of Democrats, 45 percent, say the economy is “excellent/good.” Just over a quarter, 26 percent, of GOP voters and 9 percent of independents said the same thing, according to the survey.
The picture was different compared to October last year, a month ahead of the White House election, where more Democrats, 51 percent, said the economy was “good” while only 5 percent of Republicans agreed. The outlook among independents worsened, dropping from 22 percent in October according to the poll.
About a third of U.S. adults, 34 percent, said the economic conditions are improving while 57 percent argued they are getting worse, the poll found.
The survey was conducted from Jan. 2-15 among 1,005 adults. The margin of error was four percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
