Americans' view of the U.S. economy appears to be increasing in positive territory, coincidentally as news about the country's economy further improving.

Based on the latest CNN and ORC International poll, 51 percent of Americans view the U.S. economic conditions as "good." The percentage is a double-digit increase from the previous CNN and ORC International poll on the economy in late October when 38 percent of Americans said the country's economic conditions were positive. The same October poll had 62 percent of the survey's respondents labeling the economic conditions as "poor." The December poll showed a decreased of the "poor" view as 49 percent still shared the same sentiment.

The polling data was conducted between Dec. 19 and Dec. 21, two days before the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate for the U.S. was revised, and increased, to its fastest pace in nearly 10 years. The U.S. GDP rose by 5 percentage points during the third quarter this year, which represented the strongest quarter since 2003 based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

"Today's upward revision indicates that the economy grew in the third quarter at the fastest pace in over a decade. The strong GDP growth is consistent with a broad range of other indicators showing improvement in the labor market, increasing domestic energy security, and continued low health cost growth," White House's Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman said in a statement.

"The steps that we took early on to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation helped make 2014 already the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s," he added. "Indeed, 2014 was a breakthrough year for the United States across a wide range of metrics important to middle class families. Nevertheless, there is more work to be done to ensure that all Americans can share in the accelerating recovery."

News of the 5 percent increase resulted in good news for the New York Stock Exchange, notably the Dow Jones Industrial as it entered 18,000 points for the first time ever.

The latest real GDP, which represents the "value of the production of goods and services" in the U.S., reflected on a "downturn in imports, an upturn in federal government spending, and an acceleration in PCE that were partly offset by a downturn in private inventory investment and decelerations in exports, in state and local government spending, in residential fixed investment, and in nonresidential fixed investment."

The Council of Economic Advisers chairman, however, warned that GDP figures "can be volatile" and subject to significant changes and revisions. Furman said, "[It] is important not to read too much into any one single report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available." The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis noted the next GDP update for the fourth quarter will be released on Jan. 30, 2015.

The improved economic data comes as the overall U.S. unemployment rate continued to fall below 6 percent. Following November, the unemployment rate is 5.8 percent. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics acknowledged that Latino unemployment is higher, at 6.6 percent, but it's lower than October's 6.8 percent. Overall, 25.8 million Latinos were identified to be in the civilian labor force, which is the total figure for employed and unemployed people.

"The news is good across the board," Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said about the overall U.S. unemployment rate for November. "Growth has been strong in middle and high-wage industries over the last two years, and November saw particularly strong growth in professional and business services jobs. Auto sales are surging. Consumer confidence continues to grow. Americans are bullish about our economic future. By nearly every measure, we are in better shape than when President Obama took office nearly six years ago."

December's unemployment rate is expected to be announced in early January.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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