Poll: West Virginians have Worst Economic Confidence in the US - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

A new Gallup poll finds that Americans in every state have a negative economic confidence index, but West Virginians have a particularly dismal outlook on the economic future.

In the District of Columbia, the highest category measured, economic confidence was as high as +29. In West Virginia, Gallup Economic Confidence Index was a -44. The closest to that was Arkansas with a rating of -35.

According to Gallup, the Economic Confidence Index is a composite of Americans' ratings of current U.S. economic conditions and their perceptions of the economy's direction. The index has a theoretical maximum of +100 (if all respondents rate the economy "excellent" or "good" and say it is getting better) and a theoretical minimum of -100 (if all rate the economy "poor" and say it is getting worse).

Economic confidence in West Virginia has climbed in recent years. In 2008, Gallup found that West Virginians ranked economic confidence at about -54. The number improved in 2009, but dropped again in 2010 and 2011.

Earlier this week, a Gallup poll found West Virginia at the bottom of livability rankings.   

In discussion of economic confidence survey, Gallup outlined a connection between availability of job markets and economic confidence.

"Many of the states with the highest Economic Confidence Index scores thus far in 2012 — Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and Texas — also have among the best job markets in the nation," a news release about the poll states. "The same goes for the District of Columbia. However, most of the states with the lowest economic confidence scores are not among the lowest for net job creation. The few that do appear near the bottom of both lists are West Virginia, Montana and Rhode Island."

Gallup also suggests that results may reflect part identification influence as well. Those who identify with the party of the current president, the Gallup release said, are more likely to express economic confidence.

Gallup writes that high Democratic registration in Washington, D.C., might be behind positive economic outlook there. This trend doesn't hold true in West Virginia, where registered Democrats overwhelm registered Republicans, but support for President Barack Obama is very low.

The nation's future economic confidence doesn't appear to be improving either, Gallup states.

"So far in the second half of 2012, Gallup has found a decline in economic confidence, with the Index dropping to -26 in July from -22 in June," the Gallup poll results state. "If this continues, it could erase some of the gains the states posted in the first half of the year."

Of people interviewed, 8 percent said the economy was excellent, 55 percent said it was poor. About 27 percent thought the economy was getting better, while 68 percent thought it was getting worse.  

The poll is based on Gallup interviews with more than 86,000 adults, conducted from Jan. 2 through June 30.