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Consumer Sentiment for Democrats Tops Republicans After Election

Consumer Sentiment for Democrats Tops Republicans After Election

Consumer sentiment among Republicans plunged after Joe Biden was projected to defeat Donald Trump, falling below the reading for Democrats for the first time in years as those in the winning party grew more upbeat about the economy and their personal finances, according to Morning Consult.

The polling firm’s daily U.S. Index of Consumer Sentiment slumped as confidence among Americans in the current president’s party tumbled to the lowest level in data going back almost three years, outweighing the best reading for Democrats since late February.

Democrats are becoming more optimistic than Republicans as Biden prepares his policy plans to tame the coronavirus and support the economic recovery from one of the biggest economic shocks in U.S. history. The readings also underscore how sentiment often falls along party lines, with those who belong to the party in power tending to have a better outlook.

The reading for Republicans fell to a record low of 86 on Nov. 9 from 110.2 on Election Day, Nov. 3, while the level for the rival party jumped to 95.6 from 80.7 during the same period. Readings over 100 signal a positive sentiment while those below represent more negative feelings.

After the reversal, however, partisanship is less likely to influence consumer confidence, according to a report released Tuesday by John Leer, an economist for Morning Consult, a Washington-based polling and data analysis provider.

“Once consumers across the political spectrum re-establish their new levels of steady state confidence, increases in the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. are likely to exert additional downward pressure on consumer confidence in the coming weeks,” Leer wrote.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.