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Economy
U.S. Economic Confidence Index Stable at -14
Economy

U.S. Economic Confidence Index Stable at -14

Chart: data points are described in article

Story Highlights

  • Index similar to previous weeks' -15 and -16
  • Economic outlook score still lower than current conditions score

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' confidence in the U.S. economy has leveled off, with Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index averaging -14 for the week ending May 8. This score is similar to the -15 and -16 found the previous two weeks.

U.S. Economic Confidence Index -- Weekly Averages Since May 2015

Index readings over the past three weeks have been on the lower end of the range of scores recorded so far in 2016, and all fall below the current 2016 average of -12. The -16 score for the week of April 18-24 represented a new low for the index this year; since then, the past two weeks' -15 and -14 scores don't reflect much improvement.

Americans' confidence in the economy was a good deal higher one year ago when the weekly index registered -5. From a long-term perspective, the current index score is markedly higher than many scores recorded in Gallup's trend since 2008.

Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate current economic conditions and whether they feel the economy is improving or getting worse. The index has a theoretical maximum of +100 if all Americans say the economy is doing well and improving, and a theoretical minimum of -100 if all Americans say the economy is doing poorly and getting worse.

For the week ending May 8, the current conditions score matched the -5 from the previous week -- the result of 25% of U.S. adults rating the current economy as "excellent" or "good," and 30% rating it as "poor." This component has not changed much over the past year, with Americans holding slightly negative views of the current state of the economy.

The economic outlook score has varied more than the current conditions score over the past year, ranging from a low of -25 to a high of -9. The latest score of -23 is on the lower end of that range, the result of 36% of U.S. adults saying the economy is "getting better" and 59% saying it is "getting worse."

U.S. Economic Confidence Index Components -- Weekly Averages Since May 2015

Bottom Line

Americans' evaluations of the economy remain moderately negative, with views of current conditions a bit less negative and more stable over the past year than views of the economy's direction. While Americans enjoy relatively lower gas prices and see gradual progress in the stock market, they haven't registered a positive view of the economy's current state in over a year, and they have grown more pessimistic about its future in recent weeks.

These data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted May 2-8, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 3,551 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

Learn more about how Gallup Daily tracking works.


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