Economic Outlook Weakens
NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2004 -- -- Ratings of current economic conditions are holding steady, but the number of Americans who think the economy is getting worse has reached its highest level in seven months.
Forty-two percent of Americans in this week’s ABC News/"Money" magazine poll say the economy’s worsening, the most since March and matching the most since March 2003. It was 38 percent last month, and 36 percent in July.
Gasoline prices might be a factor. The average price for a gallon is now $2.04, up 19 cents in the last month to its highest level since May. Rising economic pessimism could indicate Americans are bracing for further increases.
Nevertheless, two weeks before Election Day George W. Bush is in a better position than his father was in the deep economic doldrums of 1992. At that time there was a 46-point gap between economic pessimists and optimists. It’s a much narrower 15 points today.
INDEX -- Pessimism about the future has not dragged down consumer views of current conditions, at least not yet. The ABC/"Money" index stands at -11 on its scale of +100 to -100. Last March, by contrast, when economic pessimism was last at this level, the index was -22.
The ABC/"Money" index is based on Americans’ views of the national economy, their personal finances and the buying climate (optimism or pessimism about the future are measured separately). This week, 37 percent rate the economy positively, three points below the long-term average in weekly polls since late 1985; 41 percent call it a good time to buy things, two points above average; and 56 percent say their own finances are in good shape, one point from its average.
TREND -- The index has had an up-and-down year: It peaked this year at -3 in mid-January; dropped to its worst of this year, -22, in mid-March; bounced back throughout the spring; fell to -20 in mid-June; and then recovered again. It’s unchanged from last week, after a monthlong slide from -7.
The index has ranged from a high of +38 in January 2000 to a low of -50 in February 1992. Its worst annual average was -44 in 1992. Last year it averaged -19, much worse than the best yearly average of +29 in 2000. The 2004 average so far is -12.
At this time in 1992, the ABC/Money index stood at -48 -- a whopping 37 points below its current standing.
GROUPS -- As has been the case throughout this election season, confidence varies widely by partisanship. Republicans are the most sanguine, +39, while Democrats are the least, -44. The index among independents, a key swing voter group, is -20.
As usual, confidence is stronger among better-off Americans. The index is +42 among high-income people while -42 among those with the lowest incomes, 0 among college graduates while -45 among high-school dropouts, -4 among whites but -39 among blacks and +3 among men but -24 among women.
