Economic Anxiety Is Bipartisan

Gallup released findings today on economic confidence by state, and it appears anxiety doesn't give a clear partisan edge one way or the other.

Conventional wisdom says that an improved, or improving, economy is good for President Obama and Democrats, while economic anxiety is bad for the president's party. Of the 10 states with the highest confidence ratings, five voted for Obama in '08 and five voted for John McCain; of the 10 states with the least confidence in the economy, six voted for Obama and four for McCain.


Respondents are asked to rate current economic conditions as excellent, good, fair, or poor, and whether the economy is getting better or worse; the results are averaged to get a score from -100 to 100 for each state.

States with the lowest confidence were, in order from least confident to most: Wyoming, Michigan, West Virginia, Nevada, Idaho, Rhode Island, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, and Montana. States with the most confidence, from most to least, were: District of Columbia, South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah, Texas, Iowa, North Dakota, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont.