Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index has soared to its highest level in its nine-year history as America's stock market basks in Donald Trump's presidential victory.

The latest score of +6 for the week ending Nov. 27 inched past the previous high of +5 recorded in January 2015.

The index was -11 in the last full week before the Nov. 8 election, but then jumped to +4 the week after. Gallup noted that the change was largely attributable to Republicans becoming more optimistic about the economy's direction.

Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate current economic conditions and whether they feel the economy is improving or getting worse.

Economic confidence has been below zero nearly continuously since 2008, hitting its lowest level of -65 in October 2008 at the onset of the financial crisis. Aside from the recent pair of positive index readings, Gallup's weekly scores were positive several times during a brief, three-month span from late 2014 to early 2015, when U.S. consumers enjoyed a sustained drop in gasoline prices.

Thirty percent of Americans rated the economy as "excellent" or "good" last week, while 22% said it was "poor," resulting in a current conditions index of +8 -- this is, by one point, the highest score recorded for this component over the past nine years. The latest current conditions score is up two points from the prior week.

The economic outlook component is at its highest since February of last year. For the week ending Nov. 27, this component moved further into positive territory at +4, compared with +1 the previous week. The latest score is the result of 49% of Americans saying economic conditions in the country are "getting better" and 45% saying they are "getting worse."

The stock market’s rise to record highs after Trump’s presidential victory shows that investors are optimistic that the economy will improve as President Barack Obama leaves office, says Charles Gasparino, author and Fox Business Network senior correspondent.

“His promise to cut both corporate taxes and red tape will translate into higher corporate profits so businesses can expand and create jobs,” Gasparino writes in the New York Post. “Real unemployment can finally decline not because people are dropping out of the workforce but because they’re actually working again.”

Trump will come into office with Republicans controlling the Senate and House of Representatives, making economic reforms a realistic possibility instead of prolonged gridlock. Under President Obama, the U.S. economy never exceeded 3 percent yearly growth for the first time since World War II.

“With the GOP controlling the House as well as the Senate, traders see real economic growth on the horizon, not just a Fed-induced stock-market bubble where interest rates are so low there’s no other place to put your money,” Gasparino says.

(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).



