POLL: Confidence in a Funk

Nov. 6, 2007 — -- Consumer confidence was flat this week and stunk in a negative funk in the face of mixed economic news and steep gas prices.

The ABC News/Washington Post Consumer Comfort Index stands at -15 on its scale of +100 to -100, unchanged from last week. It's been in negative double-digits for more than three months, its longest run that low since late 2005, after Hurricane Katrina.

The pause comes during another week of mixed economic news. Gasoline broke the $3 mark and a quarter-point cut in the Fed's funds rate wasn't enough to ease the volatile stock market, with the Dow down 362 points last Thursday. At the same time the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported significant job growth in October, and GDP had its best quarterly growth in a year and a half.

Whatever those indicators, the economic climate clearly has most Americans worried. In a separate ABC News/Washington Post poll this week, nearly seven in 10 Americans called it very or somewhat likely that there'll be a recession in the year ahead.

Concerns about a recession peak among women and blacks. But even among Republicans -- generally a more bullish group -- 61 percent think a recession is at least somewhat likely, along with 75 percent of Democrats and 72 percent of independents.

INDEX -- The ABC/Post CCI is based on Americans' ratings of the national economy, personal finances and the buying climate. Rating of personal finances, unchanged this week, are the strongest of the three measures -- 58 percent rate them positively, about matching the long-term average in weekly polls since late 1985.

Thirty-six percent call it a good time to buy things, also unchanged from last week, and 33 percent rate the national economy positively -- matching a recent low in early September, and 7 points below the 2007 average.

TREND -- Confidence started well in 2007, with the index hovering around positive territory from January to March. But the year's been marked by two sharp drops --