Poll: 39% of Americans rate economy as poor

A Gallup Poll on Americans’ view of the U.S. economy published Wednesday indicated that while many still have a negative view of things, public sentiment on the economy has improved since polling last year.

Gallup said its Economic Confidence Index was at -20 in March, but that was improved from the -50 measured last fall.

Gallup’s ECI has a scoring range from +100, meaning Americans rate economic conditions as excellent and getting better, to -100, meaning the economy is poor and getting worse. The index had its highest rating of +56 in January 2000.

In the poll taken over the first 20 days of this month, 30% of those polled said the economy is good, 30% called the economy fair and 39% said it is poor.

The results of the poll of how people feel about the economy sharply contrasts with several economic results that show strong economic growth as reflected in job growth, falling inflation, low unemployment and strong GDP.

GDP was up 2.5% for 2023 and rose 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in March that economic activity has been expanding at a strong pace and was sustainable and solid.

Unemployment has stayed below 4% and job creation is robust, with 275,000 new jobs created in February, according ot the U.S. Labor Department.

Inflation is also considerably lower, although not yet down to the 2% favored by the Federal Reserve.

Gallup said in a statement, “When asked about the economy’s direction, 33% of Americans say conditions are getting better, while 63% say they’re getting worse. Although economic optimism is about the same as last month’s 32%, it has been slowly expanding since October, when 21% said the economy was getting better.”

How respondents see the U.S. economy is heavily weighted politically, according to Gallup.

While Democrats rate the economy at a +35, independents put it at -28 while Republicans rank it at -62.

Gallup found Republicans have an overwhelmingly negative view of the economy, with 87% believing it is getting worse and 58% of them rating the current economic conditions as poor.