Tracking Trump - Direction of the Country for January 5th:
Bottom Line: For years, despite generally favorable approval ratings for President Obama, we'd collectively been unhappy with the overall direction of our country. In much of the first year of the Trump Presidency we've seen the scenario reversed.
Where we stood on Inauguration Day:
Right Direction: 30%
Wrong Track: 59%
Net: -29%
Last Week:
Right Direction: 38%
Wrong Track: 54%
Net: -16%
And Today:
Right Direction: 37%
Wrong Track: 54%
Net: -17%
Change: +12% since Inauguration Day & -1% from last week
If you missed last Friday's update you'd missed a lot. The passage of the new tax law along with continued economic momentum led to the biggest one month rise in our perception of the direction of our country in years. While still in negative territory, we're the most optimistic we've been since May and significantly more optimistic than we were under the Obama administration. Aside from a brief period last spring we're the most optimistic we've been as a country since February of 2015. The only change this week was a slight 1% dip from last week's 7+ month highs.
Of course, there's plenty of reason for that optimism...
Economic growth over 3% for the first time in 12 years
Base unemployment rate is the lowest in nearly 17 years
Real unemployment is the best in eleven years
Corporate profits are at all-time highs
The stock market is at all-time highs amid a record run
Retirement account balances are at all-time highs
Wage growth is at ten+-year highs
Combined wage growth & impact of tax reform savings has led to the largest one year increase in average retained income in 32 years
And of course, the average person will got a 4% raise on Monday due to the tax cuts kicking in. The momentum has been meaningful and with Congress finally delivering on a major promise that will only continue to help the economy...Cheers to 2018!