Confidence in the economy in the early part of September was down from the previous two months and collapsed compared to to the same period last year.

“Although economic confidence in the U.S. appeared to be improving at this time last year, just the opposite is the case in 2010. Consumer perceptions of the U.S. economy are now substantially below the depressed levels of a year ago”, Gallup reports

The numbers are another sign that the optimism about the economy which began to build in Spring and early Summer has all but disappeared.

Gallup adds that:

“In recent weeks, 63% of consumers have said economic conditions are “getting worse.” These future expectations for the economy are among the worst of 2010 and have deterioriated substantially from the improving trend that held sway at this point in 2009.”

For Gallup Daily tracking, Gallup interviews approximately 1,000 national adults, aged 18 and older, each day. The Gallup economic confidence results are based on random half-samples of approximately 500 national adults, aged 18 and older, each day. Weekly results are based on telephone interviews with approximately 3,000 adults. For these results, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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