UF Survey: Florida Consumer Confidence Stricken by Oil, Economy

Anxieties about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have combined with a slow economy to cut June consumer confidence in the state by 3 points compared to last year at this time.

A University of Florida survey reports that between this year and last, consumer confidence fell from 70 to 67 points, and perception of personal finances fell from 54 to 45 points. Perceptions of personal finance for the coming year fell from 79 to 75.

While the drop in consumer confidence was to be expected, Chris McCarty, survey director of the UF Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said in a press release from UF that the drop in perceptions of personal finance was a surprise.

The economic effects of the oil spill are only now starting to show up in the data, although they have been known to residents and businesses along Floridas west coast for nearly two months, McCarty said in the release. It is likely that sales tax revenues, already down from the recession, will decline further as tourists put off trips. This will inevitably translate to a budget deficit in next years legislative session, which promises to be more difficult than the one that just ended.

The nation's consumer confidence isn't faring any better. It dropped this month to 52.9 from 62.7 last month.