Thirty-one percent (31%) now rate the U.S. economy as good or Excellent

[Christ was Socialist]

Monday May 03, 2004--The Rasmussen Consumer Index lost just over one-and-a-half points on Monday to 114.1. The Index, which measures the economic confidence of American consumers on a daily basis, is down one from a week ago, up six from a month ago, and down four from three months ago.

Over the past eight days, the Consumer Index has stayed in a narrow range between 114.0 and 115.7.

The Rasmussen Investor Index dropped one point on Monday to 135.1. The Investor Index is up one from a week ago and up ten from a month ago. However, it is down three from three months ago.

Thirty-one percent (31%) of Americans now rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent. Thirty-six percent (36%) say fair and 31% poor. A week ago, 33% said good or excellent; 37% said fair; and 29% poor.

New results from the Rasmussen Index are released by 8:00 a.m. Monday through Friday and by 9:00 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Questions?

The Rasmussen Index was established in October 2001 and is updated daily. It has consistently shown Economic Confidence trends in advance of the traditional indicators provided by the Conference Board and University of Michigan.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index reached its highest level ever at 127.0 on January 6, 2004. Prior to this month, the all-time high of 124.3 was reached April 2, 2002. The lowest level ever measured by the Consumer Index was reached March 11, 2003 at 83.2. The highest point reached in 2003 was reached December 30 and 31 at 123.2.

The Rasmussen Investor Index reached its highest level ever at 150.9 on January 7, 2004. Prior to the capture of Saddam Hussein, the highest level ever reached by the Investor Index was 143.8 on March 28, 2002. The lowest level ever measured was 91.1 on March 13, 2003.

The baseline for the Rasmussen Consumer Index was established at 100.0 in October 2001. The current level of 114.1 means that overall levels of economic confidence are somewhat higher than in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

The current Index data is from a national telephone survey of 1,500 adults conducted by Rasmussen Reports over the past three nights. The margin of sampling error for each individual question in the survey is +/- 2.6 percentage points, with a 95% level of confidence. This survey is part of a larger series of data used to compile the Rasmussen Index on a daily basis.