Confidence in the economy is now at its highest point since Gallup started tracking economic confidence in January 2008. Its Economic Confidence Index is now at +13, up from a previous high of +5 in early 2015.
In other words, Gallup found that 33 percent of Americans describe the economy as “excellent” or “good,” while only 21 percent rate it as “poor.” At the same time, 53 percent of Americans say economic conditions are “getting better” while 40 percent say they’re “getting worse.”
Since January 2008, the Economic Confidence Index has mostly languished in the negatives, hitting a low of -65 in late 2008.
It’s probably no coincidence then that the Dow Jones industrial average passed the 20,000 point mark on Wednesday shortly after the markets opened. This came a day after the Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 also set record highs on Tuesday.
Interestingly, Gallup attributes the improvement in economic confidence to improved confidence from Republicans. It’s unsurprising that Republicans would be more confident in the economy now that Republicans control the federal government.
But it is surprising that any decline in economic confidence among Democrats isn’t large enough to keep nationwide economic confidence from hitting a new high.
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
