July 6, 2011 (Jeff Alan)

The Rasmussen Consumer Index fell to a new low in 2011 of 69.8, down 16 points from a month ago and down nine points from three months ago. Only 21 percent of those polled now believe the economy is getting better while 58 percent believe it’s getting worse.

Households also had a negative view of their personal finances with only 18 percent of those polled saying their personal finances are getting better while 56 percent reported their finances are getting worse.

Rasmussen uses a baseline of 100.0 established in October 2001. Readings above 100.0 indicate that confidence is higher than the baseline month.

Concern about the economy was also expressed in Rasmussen’s poll of likely voters who were asked if they felt the country was heading in the right direction. Only 24 percent of the likely voters believed that the country was headed in the right direction, while 68 percent of the voters believed the country was headed in the wrong direction.

Since January 2009, doubt about the direction that the country was headed in ranged from 57 percent to 72 percent.

And Americans overall view of the economy wasn’t much better as only 8 percent rated the economy as good or excellent while 61 percent sat it’s in poor shape.

Despite the gloom, 47 percent of American adults still feel that buying a home is the best investment a family can make. Although this was the lowest level ever recorded, it was still higher than the 32 percent who felt that purchasing a home was not a good investment choice. Twenty-two percent were not sure.

But when it came to selling a home, only 11 percent of all adults said it was a good time to sell a home. Seventy-two percent of the adults said it was not a good time to sell a home and 16 percent were not sure.

Tags: Rasmussen Reports, polls, surveys, consumer confidence, personal finances, economy, buying a home

Resource:
Rasmussen Reports