CV NEWS FEED // New data shows that Americans’ confidence in the U.S. economy was already fairly low before the Aug. 5 market fall.
In July, the reading was -35 on Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, which ranges from +100 to -100. Higher scores indicate that all Americans would rank the economy as excellent and getting better, and lower scores signal the economy is unanimously ranked as poor and getting worse.
July’s ranking isn’t as low as June 2022’s (-58), which was the lowest ranking since the Great Recession in 2008 and early 2009. However, July’s is the lowest measured in 2024. The ranking has sunk 15 points since this year’s highest ranking, which was -20 in March.
According to Gallup, data for July’s ranking was collected after the government announced that the Consumer Price Index fell in June, marking “the first month-to-month decline in consumer prices in four years” despite positive news regarding inflation, high unemployment rates, and skyrocketing housing market.
Gallup also found that 46% of Americans said the current economy is poor, “making it the dominant response for the 29th straight month.” Only 22% of the July respondents considered the economy to be excellent or good, down from 25% in June.
“Americans have also been consistently more negative than positive since May 2021 in their assessments of the economy’s trajectory,” Gallup added. “This month, seven in 10 Americans (70%) believe the economy is ‘getting worse,’ while 24% say it is ‘getting better.’ This is slightly more negative than last month’s 26% ‘getting better’ and 69% ‘getting worse’ division of attitudes.”
Respondents were also likely to include the economy and inflation among the top problems currently facing the U.S., along with poor government and immigration.
