Gallup: Economic confidence plunges amid shutdown

{mosads}The index’s average for September, a month in which Republicans and Democrats sparred over a short-term government spending measure, also dropped significantly from August.

After allowing the government to shutter this week, Washington also faces an Oct. 17 deadline to raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit.

The economic index also plummeted following the 2011 deadlock over the debt limit, erasing many of the slow gains in confidence following the 2008 fiscal crisis.