Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Different Outlooks on the Economy

A new Gallup poll shows that Americans' economic confidence slipped in March, despite the record-setting stock market. The overall figure fell from -13 in February, which tied a five-year high for this measure, to -16 in March. One reason the figure is still so strongly negative is because 54 percent of Americans say the economy is getting worse, as opposed to just 41 percent who say it's getting better.

There are some interesting splits deeper down in the data. The better off you are, the more you like this economy: Upper-income Americans rated their economic confidence at -5, or almost back to the normal zero point. Middle- and lower-income Americans, by contrast, put their economic confidence much lower, at -18.

Meanwhile, Republicans' economic confidence moved up four points in March, while Democrats' confidence dropped by nine points. Still, Democrats feel a lot better about the economy than Republicans do: Their confidence rating sits at +15, while Republicans sits down at -47.

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