Aman Batheja
‪@amanbatheja.bsky.social‬

Holy crap chart from Gallup


8:50 AM · Dec 19, 2025

Economy
December 4, 2025

Economic Confidence Slips; Holiday Spending Plans Plummet

Consumers' holiday spending estimate has shrunk by over $200 as economic confidence edges down



by Lydia Saad

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. consumers expressed increased concern about the economy and jobs in November during a period that encompassed the final stretch of the nation’s longest federal government shutdown, significant stock market volatility and uncertainty about the nation’s labor market. Consumers also reported a sharply lower holiday spending estimate than they had forecast in October.

Economic Confidence Drops to 17-Month Low

Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index (ECI) fell seven points to -30 in November, the lowest since a -35 reading in July 2024. The decline reflects slightly worsening views on both components of the index: Americans’ ratings of current economic conditions (as excellent, good, only fair or poor) and their perceptions of whether the economy is getting better or getting worse.

Twenty-one percent of U.S. adults in November, down slightly from 24% in October and the lowest percentage since March, described current economic conditions as excellent or good. By contrast, 40% now rate current conditions as poor, compared with 37% in October. ... Fewer than three in 10 adults in the latest poll, 27%, said the economy is getting better, four percentage points below the October reading and the lowest since July 2024. About two-thirds (68%) said the economy is getting worse.

The ECI has a theoretical range of +100 to -100. The all-time high in Gallup’s trend since 1992 is +56, recorded in January 2000, and the lowest is -72, in October 2008. More recently — within the past five years — the high point was +41 in February 2020, and the low was -58 in June 2022.

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