With a large percentage of federal employees, lobbyists and government contracting, the District of Columbia isn’t nearly as susceptible to an economic downturn as the rest of the country. But I still find these numbers from Gallup on economic confidence in DC compared to the rest of the country shocking.

While the American people are still not feeling good about the state of the economy, they are feeling much better about it than they have in months, according to Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index. This is good news for President Obama’s political prospects. Obama’s job approval rating is highly correlated with the American people’s economic outlook.