Thanks for nothing, Washington.
The final August reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment was at 55.7, down from 63.7 the month before. It was slightly better than August's preliminary reading of 54.9, which had been the lowest level since May 1980.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 56.0.
"Consumers have shifted from being optimistic about the potential impact of monetary and fiscal policies to a sense of despair and pessimism about the role of the government," survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.
Recent political wrangling over raising the U.S. debt ceiling [cnbc explains] appeared to take its toll. Spontaneous negative references to the government were made by 25 percent of respondents, above the prior record of 20 percent in April 2010.
