Coalition rhetoric a real confidence builder The promise of prosperity: Consumer confidence has risen on the back of the election of Tony Abbott. Consumer confidence has climbed to its highest level in nearly three years and the improvement appears to be entirely due to Coalition voters enthusiasm for the prospect of an Abbott government. The standout element in the September Westpac/Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey taken last week was a 19 per cent surge in the Coalition voters" confidence from the previous month, a rise of 27 per cent over September last year. At 109.3, it's the first time in three years that the Coalition voters" score broke into positive territory (more people optimistic than pessimistic about their economic outlook). That was more than enough to make up for Labor voters" confidence falling 10 per cent. With a score of 113.7, Labor voters were still more optimistic souls than Coalition voters, but the gap between the two is the smallest since 2009. The jump in Coalition optimism lifted the overall consumer confidence index to 110.6, its highest level since December 2010. There was an 8.7 per cent increase in people's perception of economic conditions over the next 12 months, an increase of 7.1 per cent in their perception of economic conditions over the next five years and a 6.9 per cent rise in those thinking it was a good time to buy major household items. The improved consumer confidence reading comes on the heels of yesterday's NAB business confidence survey which also showed a lift in expectations. You might well wonder if that result also reflected the outlook of Coalition voters being questioned. In the amorphous area of confidence readings, perceptions can become reality. If enough people convince themselves that "things are going to be better," there's a good chance things will get better - businesses become more willing to invest, consumers more willing to spend. As previously suggested, Tony Abbott looks like having that desirable quality of "luck." The key Chinese economic statistics are delivering the promised solid growth, business and consumer confidence are up, there's even a little less international tension about Syria (not that it's doing the Syrians any good). The two confidence surveys underline that, despite proposing no change in the federal fiscal bottom line and a mixed bag of tax changes at some vague Senate-permitting point, the Coalition's pro-business rhetoric has convinced a significant proportion of the population that their economic outlook is better. It is a little bemusing that the only concrete decision taken by the yet-to-be-sworn-in government is to waste money - having to pay Steve Bracks a couple of years" wages for nothing amidst suggestions that the New York consul general's post will instead go to a Liberal Party worthy. Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor.