Consumer confidence among Republicans was buoyed by Donald Trump's victory on Election Day, and although sentiment among Democrats dipped, it still remains above water.
Overall sentiment reached 100.6 on Nov. 11 (anything above 100 is positive), Axios reported Monday, citing the Morning Consult Consumer Sentiment Index.
Heading into the election, Republican sentiment was at 83, about the same level where it had been since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Axios reported. But after Trump's victory, it soared to 107.6.
Sentiment among Democrats, meanwhile, was at 116 before the election, but even after Vice President Kamala Harris lost, it only dipped to 100, meaning it remains positive.
For years, consumer sentiment was a leading economic indicator because it could foreshadow a recession faster than other economic data that took longer to determine. But now economists are wondering if consumer sentiment can be a useful economic indicator if politics is the main driver, according to Axios.
"The fact that macroeconomic indicators have become so divorced from consumer sentiment, it's reasonable to ask does this even matter from an economic standpoint anymore?" Ben Harris, vice president and director of economic studies at the liberal Brookings Institution, told Axios.
A study by two Stanford economists for the University of Michigan, set to be released Nov. 22, showed although Republicans and Democrats view the economy more favorably when their party controls the White House, the margin is roughly 2½ times larger for Republicans than for Democrats, according to Axios.
"Republicans cheer louder when their party is in control and boo louder when their party is out of control," they wrote.