The ABC/Money Consumer Comfort Index, based on ratings of current economic conditions, lost seven points — a single-week fall that’s been matched just twice before, in January 2001 and February 1990. In each of those cases, recessions followed.

The drop erases gains through December and January, pushing confidence back under its long-term average. And expectations have worsened as well: Pessimism about the economy’s direction has jumped by 10 points, to its highest in five months.

The change — hardly happy news for President Bush — coincides with the height of the Democratic primary season, in which the candidates have been sharply critical of his economic performance. An ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll last week found Bush’s overall job approval its lowest of his career, 50 percent. Disapproval of his handling of the economy was up 10 points since December to 54 percent, two points from its worst. And 47 percent said most people have gotten worse off financially under Bush.

The disappointing labor market is a likely irritant: The economy has lost jobs for three consecutive years (a first since the Labor Department started keeping track in 1939), and fewer jobs were added last month than economists expected — not enough even to keep pace with population growth.

 INDEX — The ABC/Money index, composed of public ratings of the economy, personal finances and the buying climate, started to improve in late November and rallied through January, reaching a 21-month high. It’s lost 10 points since then, with worsening ratings of the national economy leading the decline.

Just 36 percent now say the economy is in good shape, down eight points in the last four weeks (five this week alone). Thirty-nine percent call it a good time to buy things, down four points in the last month; 56 percent rate their own finances positively, down three.

 EXPECTATIONS — Economic expectations, measured separately, show a similar trend, with sunnier views the last three months giving way to greater gloom now. Today 37 percent say they economy’s getting worse — up 10 points since last month to the most since September. Fewer, 29 percent, think it’s getting better; 32 percent, holding steady.

 TREND — After a summer slump, confidence improved to -13 in November, -9 in December and -3 in mid-January, before slipping a bit, then falling this week. The current rating is four points below its all-time average, -9, and far below its record high, +38 in January 2000. Still, it remains much better than its record low, -50 in February 1992.

 GROUPS — As usual, confidence is higher among better-off Americans. The index is +22 among higher-income people while -58 among those with the lowest incomes, -2 among college graduates while -43 among high-school dropouts and -6 among whites but -42 among blacks. It’s also -1 among men, while -22 among women.

Huge partisan differences persist in this political year: The index is +39 among Republicans, -23 among independents and -39 among Democrats. But the drop from last week is about the same in each of those groups.

Regionally, the index fell most sharply this week in the Midwest.

ABCNEWS/Money Index
Today	-13
Last week	-6
Three months ago	-17
2003 Low	-28
2003 Average	-19
2002 Average	-11
2001 Average	+4
Jan. 16, 2000	+38 Record high
2000 average	+29 Best full year
1992 average	-44 Worst full year
Feb. 9, 1992	-50 Record low
Average since 12/85	-9

Here's a closer look at the three components of the ABCNEWS/Money index:

 NATIONAL ECONOMY — Thirty-six percent of Americans rate the nation’s economy as excellent or good; it was 41 percent last week. The highest was 80 percent on Jan. 16, 2000. The lowest was 7 percent in late 1991 and early 1992.

 PERSONAL FINANCES — Fifty-six percent rate their own finances as excellent or good; it was 58 percent last week. The best was 70 percent on Aug. 30, 1998, and matched in January 2000. The worst was 42 percent on March 14, 1993.

 BUYING CLIMATE — Thirty-nine percent say it’s an excellent or good time to buy things; it was 42 percent last week. The best was 57 percent on Jan. 16, 2000. The worst was 20 percent in fall 1990.

 METHODOLOGY — The ABCNEWS/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index represents a rolling average based on telephone interviews with a random sample of about 1,000 adults nationwide each month. This week’s results are based on 1,000 interviews in the month ending Feb. 15, and have an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The expectations question was asked of 500 respondents Feb. 4-15; that result has a 4.5-point margin of error. Field work was conducted by ICR-International Communications Research of Media, Pa.

The ABCNEWS/Money index is derived as follows: The negative response to each index question is subtracted from the positive response to that question. The three resulting numbers are then added and divided by three. The index can range from +100 (everyone positive on all three measures) to -100 (all negative on all three measures). The survey began in December 1985.

Previous ABCNEWS polls can be found in our Poll Vault.