Economy Plays Grinch

Dec. 16, 2008 — -- In this year's Christmas gala, the economy's playing the role of Grinch. And the reviews are not good.

Consumer confidence is mired in its worst stretch in 23 years of weekly polls, with hardly a merry Who in sight. The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index stands at -51 on its scale of +100 to -100, easily within reach of the record low, -54, it hit Dec. 1.

Click here for PDF with charts and data table.

The CCI's been at or below -50 for six weeks straight, matching or setting record lows three times in that period. It's seen -50 or worse only 11 times in nearly 1,200 weeks of continuous polling – 10 of them this year.

Slumping confidence accompanies a range of negative indicators – rising unemployment and jobless claims, retail troubles and continued upheaval in the financial world. While gas prices have eased to their lowest since February 2004, other concerns have moved in. ABC News and The Washington Post will report tomorrow on an extensive survey of Americans' anxieties about current economic conditions.

INDEX – The CCI is based on Americans' ratings of the economy, their personal finances and the buying climate. Just 7 percent now say the economy's good, matching the low of two and four weeks ago and, previously, late 1991 and early 1992.

That rating is down 24 points on the year and 32 points off the long-term average; it's been in single digits for six weeks, the longest stretch since early 1992.

Just 22 percent rate the buying climate positively, down 9 points on the year and 16 points below the average. Twenty-five percent or fewer have rated the buying climate positively for 37 straight weeks, the longest such run on record.

At 44 percent, positive ratings of personal finances, typically the strongest measure, are down 14 points this year and 13 points off their average. Fewer than a majority have rated their finances positively for 21 weeks, the longest such stretch since 1992-93.

EXPECTATIONS – In a separate measure, views of the economy's future are hardly encouraging: Sixty-four percent think it's getting worse, up 9 points from last month, although down from an extraordinary 82 percent in October.