American consumers are looking at Washington, and they don’t like what they see.
Sentiment dropped in July to its lowest level in nine months, according to the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey of consumers. The findings show a weak job market, heavy debt burdens and lacking political leadership are adding to consumer caution — at a time when a weak recovery is stalling as consumer spending slows.
“What changed in July was their recognition that the anticipated slowdown in the economy will keep jobs scarce for some time, while their uncertainties about future prospects were increased by the policies of the Obama administration,” survey director Richard Curtin said.
The survey showed the government continues to score low marks for its handling of the economy. Just 14% of respondents to the July survey said the government is doing a good job in handling problems such as inflation and unemployment, compared with 41% who say it’s doing a poor job.
Those numbers are have fallen since this time last year and are broadly in line with the findings of recent months. The Obama administration’s good-job rating has hit 30% just once since it took office, in May of 2009 – which was right in the thick of the stock market’s bounce off its lows earlier that year.
Meanwhile, the administration’s poor-job numbers haven’t dropped below 30% in 13 months.
Those numbers obviously suggest a large degree of discomfort with the performance of the economy and Obama’s policies. Even so, it doesn’t seem this claim in the University of Michigan survey press statement is entirely justified:
Confidence in economic policies fell to the lowest level in the July survey since the start of the Obama administration. While the effectiveness of Obama’s policies in creating jobs remained the top concern, the rising level of federal debt and prospects for higher future taxes have gained a foothold as well.
The 14% good-job number is near the administration’s low mark, but it’s above February’s 13% and matches the levels of April and May.
The survey group didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.