Figure 1:<\/strong> University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (blue, left scale), Conference Board Economic Confidence (tan, left scale), and Gallup Economic Confidence (green, right scale). Source: U.Michigan via FRED, Conference Board, Gallup.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Current conditions were up partly because of the impetus to buy now to avoid future tariffs.<\/p>\n Interestingly, expectations as measured by U. Michigan have dropped, attributed to anxiety regarding the effects of tariffs. Still, Republicans\/lean Republican have seen their expectations soar, while Democrats\/lean Democrats have seen the reverse (as happened, in reverse, in 2020).<\/p>\n Figure 2:<\/strong> University of Michigan Expectations (bold black), expectations of Democrats\/lean Democratic (blue), expectations of Republicans\/lean Republican (red). Source: University of Michigan, FRED.<\/em><\/p>\n The Conference Board expectations index also evidenced a drop:<\/p>\n Source:<\/strong> Conference Board<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The Conference Board’s note on the December results included:<\/p>\n In write-in responses about factors affecting consumers\u2019 views of the economy, mentions of\u00a0politics<\/strong>\u2014including the outcome of November\u2019s elections\u2014continued to rise. Mentions of\u00a0tariffs<\/strong>\u00a0also increased in December. Notably, a special question this month showed that 46% of US consumers expected tariffs to raise the cost of living while 21% expected tariffs to create more US jobs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Certainly, uncertainty has increased since the election, relative to the recent past.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/econbrowser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/sentimentconfidencepix.png\")
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