The following is an excerpt from JOSH BOAK | October 1, 2012 | thefiscaltimes.com |
Despite mixed economic signals and warnings about the country getting dropkicked into recession next year by the “fiscal cliff,” consumer confidence has climbed in parallel with President Obama’s surge in the polls over Mitt Romney.
Analysis by the Gallup Organization suggests that both phenomena are being driven by politics instead of finances. The pollster found that Democrats started feeling better about their own prospects during the party’s convention last month. That enthusiasm about Obama’s reelection spilled over in a way that lifted broader measurements of economic sentiment.
“The convention certainly started the upward shift in confidence for Democrats–and that has continued at high levels and stayed up there,” Dennis Jacobe, Gallup’s chief economist, told The Fiscal Times. “Do people buy the idea that this is all taking time and the recovery is on its way? A lot of Democrats believe that.”
Unlike other confidence surveys by the Conference Board and the University of Michigan—both of which sharply increased in September amid muddled economic news—Gallup tracks consumer attitudes daily.
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