Consumer confidence up since election

”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations, noting that these grades are best seen as a mix of art and data.

BUZZ >> California’s consumer confidence has jumped by almost a third since Joe Biden was elected president — but the future is cloudy.

SOURCE >> My trusty spreadsheet’s review of November’s consumer confidence indexes, created from polling done for the Conference Board.

The trend

California’s gain of 32% in its optimism index in the 12 months since Election Day 2020 is in line with a national upswing as the U.S. index rose 18% in the same period.

Look, politicians have far less impact on the economy than everybody thinks. And one of the past year’s biggest changes has been the reduction in the pandemic’s damage to health and wealth.

Still, the buck stops with leadership, and skittish shoppers often seek change at the ballot box. So it’s curious to see how confidence expressed through an index like this one has morphed since Biden quashed Donald Trump’s reelection bid.

Let’s look at the eight states the Conference Board’s study breaks out and their political leanings ...

1. ILLINOIS >> Overall confidence index is up 49% in a year. Biden won with 58% of the vote.

2. NEW YORK >> Up 46%. Biden, with 61%.

3. PENNSYLVANIA >> Up 33%. Biden, with 50.1%.

4. CALIFORNIA >> Up 32%. Biden, with 64%.

5. OHIO >> Up 25%. Trump, with 53%.

6. MICHIGAN >> Up 13%. Biden, with 51%.

7. FLORIDA >> Up 8%. Trump, with 51%.

8. TEXAS >> Up 6%. Trump, with

52%. Caveat

Much of the past year’s increased optimism as shown by this polling can be tied to improved views about current conditions. Let’s remember a year ago when the economy — and the nation’s wellness — was pummeled by an autumn surge in the coronavirus.

Nationally, the index’s measurement of the present economy is up 35% in a year. It’s a period where the broadest measure of business output — gross domestic product — jumped a swift 6.7% in the 12 months ended in June. State indexes of current conditions run largely in tandem