When it comes to confidence in the U.S. economy, you can count Louisianans among the nation’s least enthusiastic.
New poll results from Gallup show residents in just four other states expressed less confidence in the American economy. Gallup says the rankings are based its daily interviews with 176,702 adults between January and December last year. The polling firm says interviews were conducted with at least 450 residents in each state.
To rank each state and its residents’ confidence levels, Gallup uses an index based on a maximum score of 100 and minimum of -100. If all respondents rate the economy as “excellent” or “good” and say it’s getting better, that state would get a score of 100. Conversely, if all respondents say the economy is “poor” and getting worse, that state would score a -100.
With an index score of 0, residents in Minnesota are the most confident about the economy, followed by Maryland (-4), California (-5), Hawaii (-6) and Colorado (-7). With a score of -42, West Virginia residents expressed the least confidence in the economy, followed by Alabama (-33), Kentucky and Mississippi (both at -29). Louisiana, with an index score of -27, is tied with Arkansas and Wyoming for the fourth-lowest level of confidence in the nation, Gallup says.
“Confidence in the economy varies significantly from state to state, though it generally tilted negative in 2014, as has been the case in recent years,” Gallup says. “Nationally, the index averaged -15 for all of 2014. However, scores improved dramatically in the last part of the year, and have consistently been in positive territory so far this year.”
Gallup says the ratings reflect confidence levels for all of 2014, but may not necessarily reflect current confidence. Gallup has tracked economic confidence ratings at the state level since 2008, and it says prior to Minnesota’s latest rating of 0, no state has had a non-negative annual score.
