Gallup recently released a survey showing that Americans’ confidence in the economy has decreased by nine points since last month. This marks the first decline since the fall, with the Gallup Economic Confidence Index dropping from -20 in March to -29 in April. The index has a range of +100 to -100, with +100 representing all individuals rating the economy as good and -100 indicating all people rating it as poor.
Currently, 24% of U.S. adults view economic conditions as “excellent” or “good,” 32% say conditions are “only fair,” and 44% rate them as “poor.” The decline in economic confidence was observed across all political affiliations in April, with Democrats experiencing a four-point decrease from 35 to 31, independents seeing a ten-point decline from -28 to -38, and Republicans recording a significant drop from -62 to -71.
The overall index had reached its lowest point in October 2023 at -41, then increased before reaching its highest score of +56 in January 2000. However, historical data shows that the index reached its lowest at -72 in October 2008 during the Great Recession. During the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, the index plummeted from +41 in February 2020 to -32 in April 202