Election
Matters: Hispanics' Political Preferences and Declining Economic
Confidence
Gallup Editor-in-Chief
Frank Newport and Gallup Senior Editor Lydia Saad reveal that Hispanics become
less Democratic the longer they remain in the U.S., and they discuss the
political implications of declining economic confidence.
June 26,
2012
U.S.
Economic Confidence Continues to Slide
Economic
confidence declines to -26, lowest since late January
by Jenny
Marlar
WASHINGTON,
D.C. -- Gallup's Economic Confidence Index was -26 for the week ending June 24,
down slightly from -24 the week before. Americans' confidence has now receded
for four straight weeks, and is at the lowest point since late
January.
Gallup's Economic Confidence Index consists of two measures -- one assessing current economic conditions and the other assessing the nation's economic outlook. Americans' perceptions of current economic conditions worsened to -31, down four from the previous week, with 44% saying the economy is poor and 13% saying it is excellent or good. Attitudes about the economic outlook were down marginally last week, at -21.
A disappointing May jobs report combined with the tepid economic climate in Europe and downgrading of major U.S. banks appear to have given U.S. consumers cause for concern in June. It will be interesting to see how the last week of June wraps up. There may be reason for optimism, with Gallup's U.S. unemployment rate having reached its lowest number in over two years. In the coming weeks, a decline in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' U.S. unemployment number for June could help improve confidence, as could falling gas prices, which immediately affect the pocketbooks of Americans, if the price declines continue as expected.
Gallup.com reports results from these indexes in daily, weekly, and monthly averages and in Gallup.com stories. Complete trend data are always available to view and export in the following charts:
Daily: Employment, Economic Confidence, Job Creation, Consumer Spending
Weekly: Employment, Economic Confidence, Job Creation, Consumer Spending
Read more about Gallup's economic measures.
View our economic release schedule.
Survey
Methods
Results
are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking
from June 18-24, 2012, with a random sample of 3,323 adults, aged 18 and older,
living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using
random-digit-dial sampling.
For
results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95%
confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage
points.
Interviews
are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with
interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily
Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone
respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with
additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline
telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell
phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents
are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the
most recent birthday.
Samples
are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults
in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both, cell
phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting
targets are based on the March 2011 Current Population Survey figures for the
aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone
households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design
effects for weighting and sample design.
In
addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in
conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public
opinion polls.
For
more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.
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