Despite passage of the Treasury bailout and a global reduction in interest rates, consumer pessimism hit a new record high in early October, with the percentage of Americans rating the economy as "poor" increasing by 21 percentage points from a month ago and the percentage saying the economy is "getting worse" increasing by 12 points.
Consumer confidence increased from its low level in early September but decreased again in mid-September when the financial crisis intensified.
Seventy-four percent of U.S. adults say trade represents "an opportunity for economic growth through increased U.S. exports."
In sharp contrast to the record drop in the Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index reported Friday morning, Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows Main Street pessimism moderating in recent days compared to its highs of late last week.
A crisis in confidence may be building for U.S. banks. Monday night, only 21% of affluent consumers said they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in U.S. banks -- down from 40% during the first week of September.
Over half of Americans (55%) say they are worse off financially now than they were a year ago, tied for the most negative reading in Gallup’s 32-year history of asking this question, but no worse than four months ago at the beginning of the summer.
As U.S. businesses face pressure to grow, Americans persistently report much more confidence in small business than in big business.
Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/110770/Consumer-Confidence.aspx
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