NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A new poll shows consumer confidence made a small gain after a month of declines as a heavily polarized electorate digs in to wait for the presidential vote.

The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index stands at -11 on its scale of +100 to -100, compared with -12 last week, where it'd slipped from -7 a month ago. The index has a long-term average of -9.

Confidence may not be stand up to rising gasoline prices for long; the ABC/Money index often drops as fuel prices rise. The index may be receiving some support, however, from politics: Democrats remain highly pessimistic in their economic assessments while Republicans are far more positive.

The index this week stands at -45 among Democrats and -23 among independent voters, compared with +38 among Republicans. Even before a presidential election, that's far more polarization than usual for the poll, which has run since 1985.

Confidence is hardly an accurate predictor of the outcome of presidential elections, ABC News' polling unit Director Gary Langer says, despite what appears to be a strong correlation between the two.

Looking at the University of Michigan's monthly consumer sentiment survey, Langer explains that if the confidence exceed the poll's 52-year average that tends to favor the incumbent party.

The Conference Board's monthly consumer confidence index (CCI) shows a similar pattern. Starting with the 1968 election, the incumbent party has remained in office whenever the index reading was above 100 but lost when confidence fell below that level. The only exception to this rule was the 2000 election in which the numbers pointed to a Gore victory (he won the popular vote).

As it currently stands, the Conference Board's CCI is at 96.8 while the Michigan reading is at 95.6 year-to-date, higher than 52-year average of 88.1.

Confidence, as usual, is stronger among better-off Americans. The index is +16 among higher-income people while -45 among those with the lowest incomes, +1 among college graduates while -51 among high-school dropouts, -8 among whites but -31 among blacks and -1 among men but -22 among women.

Among all Americans, 35 percent rate the U.S. economy as excellent or good; it was 34 percent last week. The highest was 80 percent on Jan. 16, 2000. The lowest was seven percent in late 1991 and early 1992.

Fifty-eight percent say their own finances are excellent or good; it was 60 percent last week. The best was 70 percent on Aug. 30, 1998, matched in January 2000. The worst was 42 percent on March 14, 1993.

Forty percent say it's an excellent or good time to buy things; 38 percent said so last week. The best was 57 percent on Jan. 16, 2000. The worst was 20 percent in fall 1990.

The above three categories -- buying climate, personal finances and national economy -- are the components that make up the index.

The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index represents a rolling average based on telephone interviews with a random sample of about 1,000 adults nationwide each month. This week's results are based on 1,000 interviews in the four weeks ending Oct. 10, 2004, and have an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.