The Peter G. Peterson Foundation launched the Fiscal Confidence Index to help policymakers, members of the media, and other interested parties gauge public opinion on the national debt, and provide the public with an instrument to communicate their concerns or optimism to elected officials. The Fiscal Confidence Index will be released monthly throughout 2013, as Congress and the President continue working to address our long-term fiscal challenges. The new Fiscal Confidence Index is modeled after the Consumer Confidence Index and measures public opinion about the national debt by asking six questions in three key areas: - CONCERN: Level of concern and views about the direction of the national debt.
- PRIORITY: How high a priority addressing the debt should be for elected leaders.
- EXPECTATIONS: Expectations about whether the debt situation will get better or worse in the next few years.
The individual scores in these three areas are averaged to produce the Fiscal Confidence Index value. For April 2013, the Fiscal Confidence Index value is 44 (100 is neutral), indicating strongly negative public sentiment about America’s fiscal situation. Sentiment has remained consistently very negative throughout 2013, remaining between 40 and 46. The Fiscal Confidence Index will be an important indicator of the American public's views about our fiscal situation and the progress elected leaders are making in addressing our long-term debt. Check back monthly for updates. |