PORTLAND – Consumer confidence among Mainers has dropped sharply, according to a recent survey.

The Maine Consumer Survey by South Portland-based Market Decisions found all four indices it uses to measure consumer confidence dropped dramatically in a poll of 400 Mainers conducted from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7.

The index of consumer expectations, which looks at consumers’ expectations of the economy in nine to 12 months from the present, fell from 84.7, where it was three months ago, to 71.2.

The index of current conditions, the perception of the economy at the present time, fell to 93.6 from 102 in October.

View of the state’s economy was down to 81.1 from 92.1 three months ago.

The biggest drop was in the index of Maine consumers’ sentiments about the nation’s economy. That index fell from 94.1 in October to 77.9 in January.

Each index uses 1966 as a baseline of 100. Figures above 100 indicate that people were more optimistic than they were in 1966.

Dr. Brian Robertson, research director at Market Decisions, said the consumer sentiment index provides a strong clue about Mainers’ overall view on the economy at present and in a few months.

“That’s a pretty sharp drop,” Robertson said. He said that while Mainers were generally less optimistic than the nation, they are becoming more pessimistic about the present and the future economy.

“As consumer sentiment drops, people’s tendency to go out and buy things tends to drop,” he said.

Three months ago, Robertson warned against reading too much into relatively high figures that only started to fall in October. But he said that now there appears to be more of a trend with the recent survey showing another drop and national surveys reflecting four months of declines in consumer confidence.

“It’s one of those strange loops that, as you hear more negative news about the economy, tends to drop your expectations and then that gets reported and it drives people’s expectations down even more,” he said.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.