In other words: during Obama’s reign.
Americans’ confidence in the economy remains higher than at any point since January 2008, with Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index averaging +8 for the week ending Dec. 11. This score is unchanged from the prior week, which marked a record high in the nine-year trend.
The index’s positive scores in recent weeks represent a reversal from the negative scores recorded in most weeks over the past nine years, except for a brief string of positive scores recorded in late 2014 and early 2015.
Donald Trump’s election last month spurred significant improvements in Republicans’ economic confidence, which pushed the index into positive territory. Now, both Democrats and Republicans have positive overall views of the U.S. economy, resulting in the record high for the index.
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.
Twenty-nine percent of Americans rated the economy as “excellent” or “good” last week, while 22% said it was “poor,” resulting in a current conditions score of +7. This is essentially unchanged from the previous week’s score and is among the highest scores for this component in Gallup’s trend.
Meanwhile, 51% of Americans said economic conditions in the country were “getting better,” and 43% said they were “getting worse,” resulting in an economic outlook score of +8 — the same as the previous week’s record-high score for this component.
Via Gallup