Consumer confidence appears to be slowly recovering, according to some surveys. A survey by Discover Financial Services shows that consumer perceptions about the economy and their own finances improved dramatically in November.
A ConsumerAffairs.com sentiment analysis of more than 13 million consumer comments on Twitter, Facebook and other social media and blogs also finds steady, though less dramatic, improvement since August, when the state of the economy registered a minus 35 percent.
Discover’s U.S. Spending Monitor, the company’s daily poll tracking economic confidence and spending intentions, recorded an 86.3 percent jump in consumer confidence for November. That represents more than a 7-point increase from the previous month.
Breaking down the data further, nearly 19 percent of those surveyed said economic conditions were improving, up more than 4 points from October. There was also a 7-point decline in the percentage of survey respondents who perceived worsening economic conditions.
Though a majority of those surveyed continue to view the state of the economy as poor, the percentage of consumers giving the economy low marks dropped seven points from last month to 61 percent.
The ConsumerAffairs.com analysis found consumers feeling about as glum this December as they did a year ago, when the net sentiment was minus nine percent.
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| Blue line shows net sentiment |
18-39
Discover found that most of the change in perception about the state of the economy was in the 18-to-39-year-old demographic –– finding a notable drop in pessimism among those respondents. Among survey respondents between the ages of 40 and 64, as well as those 65 and older, the uptick was smaller.
The survey also found that 33 percent of consumers rated their personal finances as good or excellent in November, up 3 points from the previous month. The percentage of respondents that rated their personal finances as poor fell by 2 points and represented the lowest level since July.
Discover’s data reflects a survey sample size of nearly 8,200 consumers.
Frank Cole (Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:22:37 +0000): More 'happy talk' to get people spending more in retail establishments. Survey them in the next few months on how they like those credit card bills coming in and discover they couldn't afford all those bangles and electronic gadgets they just 'had to have'.