Q1 2009: A Confidence Sourball

March 31, 2009 — -- Consumer confidence ends March in dismal condition, matching its lowest quarterly average on record in 23 years of weekly polls.

The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index, based on public views of current economic conditions, stands at -49 on its scale of +100 to -100, 5 points from its all-time low and without a significant change in seven weeks.

Its Q1 average, -50, ties Q4 2008 for the worst.

Click here for PDF with charts and data table.

Still, while ratings of current conditions are dire, optimism for the future has gained. In a separate ABC News/Washington Post poll this week, 27 percent say the economy's getting better, the most in more than four years. More, 36 percent, say things are getting worse, but that's down from 82 percent at the peak of pessimism in October.

While hopes for the Obama administration's efforts are helping expectations, there's plenty of bad news to keep current sentiment in the tank. Home prices fell a record 19 percent the past year in the latest Case-Shiller index in 20 metro areas. Gas prices are averaging over $2 a gallon for the first time since November. And unemployment's at a 25-year high.

INDEX – ABC's index is based on Americans' ratings of the economy, their personal finances and the buying climate. Ratings of the economy are the weakest – only 7 percent positive, in single digits for a record 21 weeks and 32 points below average.

Twenty-four percent say it's a good time to buy things, 14 points below the long-term average and just 6 points from the low reached in October and August. A quarter or fewer have rated the buying climate positively for 11 weeks straight.

And 46 percent rate their personal finances positively – less than a majority for 36 weeks straight, the longest such stretch since 1993.

TREND – A dismal 2008's been followed by an equally rough start to 2009 for the CCI: It hit its record low, -54 in late January, during its worst four-week stretch on record. It hasn't been better than -47 this year.

The index has been below -40 for a record 49 weeks and hasn't seen positive territory in more than two years. It's 38 points below its long-term average, -11, and light years from its best yearlong average, +29 in 2000, and all-time best, +38 in January 2000.