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The Wells Fargo/Small Business Index finds optimism among small-business owners on the decline after setting a record high last quarter.

Rarely in the past four decades have Americans been as positive as they are now about their personal finances, whether looking ahead to the next year or looking back at the previous one.

Retiring House Speaker John Boehner leaves office an unpopular figure. His historical favorable ratings are lower than those for the last five speakers, except Newt Gingrich.

Slightly more than four in 10 Americans (42%) give the Democratic Party a favorable rating, while the Republican Party has a favorable rating of 35%. Democrats' rating has risen slightly from its November 2014 low of 36%.

In a year when presidential nomination contests have caused much intraparty tension for both major political parties, Americans' favorable ratings of the Democratic (44%) and Republican (36%) parties haven't changed much.

Americans continue to be positive about their standard of living. Gallup's Standard of Living Index has been +50 or higher for the past six months, including the reading of +52 in May that ties the previous high reached in March.

Gallup's Economic Confidence Index averaged -17 in March, similar to the -16 recorded in January and February. Americans' confidence in the economy remains higher than it was last fall, but lower than its peak last May.

The American public is not feeling positively about the state of the union, with the vast majority saying they are dissatisfied with the direction the country is going in and 70% saying the economy is getting worse.

Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. is down from last month -- mostly because Republicans are less satisfied.

Americans' party preferences now tilt decidedly toward the Democratic Party, with 46% identifying as Democrats or leaning Democratic and 40% identifying as Republican or leaning Republican. In October, the parties were tied.