Confidence Gap Between Republicans and Democrats Is Widest Since Bush Was President

Republican household sentiment exceeds that of Democrats by the widest margin since George W. Bush was president. Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index data on Thursday showed a gauge of confidence among Republicans was 25.3 points higher than the index for Democrats. That’s the largest margin since the first week of January 2008.

The overall index of consumer comfort jumped to the highest level since the end of August on brighter views of the economy and a Republican-led increase in sentiment about personal finances after passage of tax cut legislation. A gain in the measure of Republicans’ confidence to the highest level since May 2007 was larger than the advance among Democrats last week.

Independents and Republicans are feeling more positive since the November 2016 election of President Donald Trump while Democrats are downbeat. The recent surge in conservative confidence comes after Trump signed a tax cut package into law this month, calling it a “big, beautiful" Christmas gift.