For the last seven years, Gallup, Inc. has been tracking Americans’ ratings of the nation’s economic condition and their thoughts on where the economy is headed. For January to December 2014, the poll found that Minnesotans were the most confident about the state of the economy. Additionally, Minnesota was the only state to have a non-negative value on the Annual Economic Confidence Index.

To compute the Economic Confidence Index, Gallup takes the average of two components: ratings on current economic conditions and opinions whether the economy was getting better or getting worse. If all of the polled population in a state expressed an affirmative view of the economy, then the index would be at positive 100, the highest value. The inverse, or the entire polling population having a negative view of the economy, would then yield an index of -100, the lowest value.

In the poll, the opinions of Americans regarding the economy widely differed from state to state but mostly, ratings tended to tilt towards the negative area. Minnesota had a 0 rating, followed by Maryland with a -4, California with a -5, and Hawaii with a -6. West Virginia had the lowest confidence rating with a -42.

Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index with Minnesota leading in optimism is consistent with data from other surveys conducted in 2014. Minnesota businesses were checked by state and federal economists and 82 percent reported that they expected their revenue and profits to grow this year. Likewise, 84 percent of Minnesota’s manufacturers expressed confidence in the future of their business.

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