Gallup's Consumer Confidence Measure Negative but Steady Compared to March

Confidence from April 1-8 still well below January and February averages

WASHINGTON, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Gallup's measure of Americans'
positive economic mood stands at a gloomy 29.2 in Gallup Poll Daily tracking
interviewing from April 1-8, 2008, similar to the 29.0 reading for all of
March. The measure -- reflecting Americans' positive perceptions of the U.S.
economy -- was 37.1 in February and 43.2 in January.
This measure is one way to summarize Gallup's daily tracking of the
public's economic mood, which relies on two questions about the U.S. economy:
1) rating current economic conditions and 2) perceptions of whether the
economy is getting better or worse. It indicates that the downward trend in
consumer attitudes since January has leveled off (albeit at very negative
levels).
The overall consumer mood rating is based on the sum of the positive
answers to these two economic questions. The rating has a maximum possible
score of 200 (under the ideal conditions that 100% of Americans rate the
economy "excellent" or "good" and, separately, that 100% say it is "getting
better"). The highest recorded score in Gallup trends for these positive
measures since the component questions were established in 1992 is 140 in
January 2000.
There has been a generally strong correspondence between the direction of
Gallup's economic mood measure and the monthly Reuters/University of Michigan
Index of Consumer Sentiment. Thus, given the results of Gallup's roughly 4,000
interviews conducted thus far in April, it would be unusual if the preliminary
April consumer sentiment figures being released to Reuters/University of
Michigan subscribers on Friday, April 11, show either a major improvement or a
deterioration in consumer attitudes since March.
Since the start of Gallup Poll Daily tracking on Jan. 2, 2008, Gallup has
released daily updates on consumer confidence based on three-day rolling
averages. The averages reported for January through April obscure some
important shifts that are evident in the detailed trend. Among these are the
findings that consumer confidence fell sharply for the first three weeks of
January, after which it regained nearly half its losses in the last week of
January. Confidence slid again at the beginning of February, but then held
steady through the remainder of the month, only to descend in the first half
of March to the lowest level seen for the year. Confidence again rebounded
somewhat toward the end of March and remained at that slightly improved level
through early April.
To read the full story and to learn more about Gallup's consumer
confidence measures, please visit www.gallup.com.
About Gallup
Only Gallup reports empirical evidence about how the world's 6 billion
citizens think and behave. Combining 70 years of experience with global reach,
Gallup provides unique, unrivaled insight into the political, economic, and
social issues of the moment. Every day, Gallup.com publishes timely stories,
videos, and analyses related to important world developments. To have Gallup
news delivered directly to your inbox, please visit Gallup.com and register to
become a member of the Gallup community.
SOURCE Gallup

Eric Nielsen of Gallup, +1-202-715-3030, eric_nielsen@gallup.com