Boom or Bust: Stark Partisan Divide on How Consumers View Economy

Many Democratic states have bounced back more vigorously. Hence their political and economic viewpoints were jolted by November's election result.

For example, Vermont, Colorado and Massachusetts -- all carried by the Democrats -- are thriving, with an unemployment rate below 4 percent. In Republican strongholds like Alaska, Georgia and Alabama, the rate is well above the national average of 4.5 percent.

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Among Republicans, the Michigan consumer expectations index was at 61.1 in October, the kind of reading typically reported in the depths of a recession. Confident that Mrs. Clinton would win, Democrats registered a 95.4 reading, close to the highs reached when her husband was in office in the late 1990s and the economy was soaring.

By March, the positions were reversed, with an even more extreme split. Republicans' expectations had soared to 122.5, equivalent to levels registered in boom times. As for Democrats, they were even more pessimistic than Republicans had been in October.

As at the voting booth, the split in perceptions could have real-world consequences. If behavior tracks the recession-era sentiment among Democrats, who account for 32 percent of respondents in the survey, prophecies could quickly become self-fulfilling by affecting spending and investing decisions.