57% of Americans see the US economy “getting worse,” according to Gallup's latest survey, sending ‘hope' to its lowest since September. Overall economic confidence slipped once again, despite the Greek deal, now at its lowest since October. It appears rising gas prices trump the rising stock prices when it comes to the average “Joe” in America.
Americans More Negative About Economic Outlook Than Current Conditions
Gallup's Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate the current economy and whether they feel the economy is getting better or getting worse. As has been the case since March, Americans rated the outlook for the economy worse than they rated current economic conditions for the week ending July 19.
The current conditions score was essentially unchanged from the week prior at -5. This was the result of 25% of Americans saying the economy is “excellent” or “good” and 30% saying it is “poor.” Meanwhile, 39% of Americans said the economy is “getting better,” while 57% said it is “getting worse.”
This resulted in an economic outlook score of -18, slightly below the -16 from the week prior, and the lowest weekly average since the week ending Sept. 21, 2014.