Consumer Sentiment Fall 2011

The first week of August I distributed via email the semi-annual consumer sentiment survey to 1466 past participants in programs related to the Seven Rivers region. I received 324 responses for an overall response rate of 22.1%. The graph and table below clearly show the precipitous drop off in both the regional and national indices. The overall consumer sentiment fell from 80.5 in early April to 66.2 in August, while the national index declined from 68.2 to 54.9. the decline can likely be attributed to recent weak economic data and the uncertainty created by the debt ceiling debate. The table below provides all the data since the inception of the regional survey. Although unlike the national index, we have not fallen below the February 2009 lows.