For Consumer Confidence, Call it a Year to Forget
Forty-three percent think the economy is getting worse.
Sept. 15, 2009 — -- It's hardly party time on the anniversary of world financial meltdown: Public ratings of current economic conditions have racked up their worst 12-month stretch on record, and expectations for the future worsened this month after what'd been a bounce for the better.
Forty-three percent of Americans now say the economy is getting worse, up 12 points from last month to the most since April. That's far better than the record 82 percent pessimism last October, a month after Lehman Brothers collapsed. But it's hardly good: Just 24 percent now see the economy as getting better, 9 points below its recent peak last spring.
Click here for PDF with charts and data table.
Current economic sentiment is no better off: The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index stands at -49 on its scale of +100 to -100, down 4 points in two weeks and inching closer to its record low, -54 in January, after improving through the summer. The CCI was bad enough a year ago this week, -41. Since then it's averaged -48, its lowest 12-month stretch on record in weekly polls since late 1985. Its long-term average is -12.
These sentiments contrast Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's statement today that the recession is "very likely over"; unemployment at 9.7 percent, the highest mark in 26 years, may make it hard for consumers to see a light at the end of the recessionary tunnel. Bernanke said as much: "It's still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time, as many people still find that their job security and their employment status is not what they wish it was."
Indeed a separate ABC News/Washington Post poll released today reinforces that reality, finding significant levels of employment pain at the household level: Forty-seven percent of Americans report job loss or pay cut in their household in the past year. About as many worry about that happening in the months ahead. And many express skepticism that either the federal government or the financial industry are taking steps to help prevent another crisis.
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