America’s confidence in the economy has dropped dramatically amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Gallup poll.
The Gallup Economic Confidence Index now stands at minus-32 down from plus-22 in March –- a 54-point decline.
The drop marks the largest one-month change in Gallup’s trend dating back to 1992.
The confidence index is the average of two components: Americans' rating of current economic conditions and opinions of whether the economy is improving or getting worse.
In January, Gallup had found Americans had more confidence in the economy than at any point since 2000. At the time, the Gallup index stood at plus-40.
In the current poll, Republicans showed the steepest decline in confidence. Gallup noted that Republicans’ index score has dropped 72 points. – from plus-77 to plus-5. Independents showed a drop of 50 points from plus-12 to minus-38. and Democrats showed a 37 point decline from minus-21 to minus-58.
The poll, conducted April 1-14, surveyed 1,017 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.