Morning in America: Gallup Says Economic Confidence Highest in 9 Years

The election of Donald Trump as president not only helped the stock market to reach record highs, but also has lifted Americans' confidence in the economy.

Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index last week rose past its prior high of +11 to a reading of +13, the highest ever.

“Americans have viewed the economy more positively since President Donald Trump's election in November than they did in the nine years prior — largely attributable to improved confidence among Republicans,” Gallup said in a statement.

Trump ran on a pro-business and pro-jobs platform, harshly criticizing President Barack Obama for overseeing the weakest economic recovery in the post-World War II era. While unemployment declined and businesses bounced back from a global financial crisis during Obama’s eight-year tenure, millions of people dropped out of the workforce and wages stagnated.

“Although many aspects of the economy are better now than they were when Obama took office, Trump seized on some of its weaknesses to convince Americans to elect him president,” Gallup said. “Trump's ability to improve upon Obama's economic record will go a long way in determining whether Americans remain confident about the health of the economy.”

Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate current economic conditions and whether they feel the economy is improving or getting worse.

The index has a theoretical maximum of +100 if all Americans were to say the economy is doing well and improving, and a theoretical minimum of -100 if all Americans were to say the economy is doing poorly and getting worse, Gallup's statement said.

The current conditions score for the week ending Jan. 22 was +12, based on 33 percent of Americans rating the economy as "excellent" or "good," and 21% rating it as "poor."

The economic outlook score was +13, based on 53 percent of Americans saying economic conditions in the country were "getting better," and 40 percent saying they were "getting worse."

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