(CN) - Republicans’ confidence in the state of the national economy has surged since the election of President Donald Trump, the Pew Research Center reported Thursday.
The share of Americans saying that the economy is in good or excellent condition is now at its highest point in nearly two decades, driven by the shifting views of Republicans, the Pew report states.
Seventy-four percent of Republicans now view the economy in positive terms, up from just 14 percent in December 2016, according to Pew’s national survey of nearly 1,500 adults conducted earlier this month.
Democrats are significantly less confident in the state of the nation’s economy -- just 37 percent say the economy is in excellent or good shape. This is a modest increase in confidence from last fall, when 30 percent of Democrats expressed a positive view of the economy, but lower than the 46 percent who said they were confident in December 2016. Republicans today are also more confident in their personal financial situations than Democrats. Sixty-two percent of Republicans say their personal financial situation is in excellent or good shape, and 83 percent say they expect to see their personal finances improve over the next year.
Democrats, on the other hand, have become less bullish about their personal finances during the Trump administration. Forty-four percent say their personal financial situation is in good shape, and 63 percent expect their personal finances to improve over the next year.
In both parties, more Americans say they experience a bigger financial impact from health care and food costs than from the stock market. Fifty-three percent of Americans say health care costs have a major impact on their finances, and 48 percent say food and consumer goods affects their household’s financial situation “a lot.”
Gas prices have become less of a concern for Americans in recent years. While 64 percent of Americans in 2013 said gas prices significantly affected their personal finances, only 37 percent of Americans today say the same, according to Pew.
Members of both parties say that are less affected by the stock market and the federal budget deficit. Only 21 percent of Americans say that the state of the stock market affects their personal finances, and only 22 percent say the federal budget deficit significantly affects their finances.
The share of Republicans who say the deficit affects their finances a lot has declined from 48 percent in 2011 to 23 percent today, and the share of Democrats who say the same is also down from 38 percent in 2011 to 22 percent today.
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