Got those post-election consumer blues?

Elections are all well and good, but do they lead to customer discontent? A report from the University of Michigan says customer satisfaction in the U.S. took a “dramatic downturn” in the fourth quarter of 2004, as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The decline—from an overall score of 74.3 in the third quarter of 2004 to 73.6 in the fourth quarter—is the biggest since 1997, and it follows “two years of steady increases.”