Gallup’s reading of Americans' confidence in the U.S. economy tumbled last week, reflecting the overall volatility in the stock market and race for the White House.

Gallup said its Economic Confidence Index averaged minus-14 for the week ending April 10. This is down from minus-10 in the previous week, and is in the lower range of what Gallup has measured over the past year.

Gallup's Economic Confidence Index averages two components: how Americans view the economy currently and whether they see it improving or getting worse. The index has a theoretical maximum of +100, if all Americans were to rate the economy as "excellent" or "good" and "getting better"; and a theoretical minimum of -100, if all were to rate the economy as "poor" and "getting worse."

“Americans' views of the national economy have been somewhat turbulent over the last several weeks,” Gallup's Justin McCarthy explained.

“Americans are confronted with presidential candidates using the economy as one of their talking points, mixed signals from national economic reports, volatility in the stock market and an apparent end of sub-$2 gas prices nationally -- all of which may be affecting their economic assessments,” he said.

To be sure, legendary investor Warren Buffett disagrees with politicians who continuously trash the American economy.

Buffett says the United States' economy is in better shape than the presidential candidates make it seem.

Buffett said in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders that any baby born in the country today will live better than their parents, even with the current slow economic growth.

"It's an election year, and candidates can’t stop speaking about our country's problems (which, of course, only they can solve)," he writes. "As a result of this negative drumbeat, many Americans now believe that their children will not live as well as they themselves do.

"That view is dead wrong: The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history."

(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).

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