The lingering US budget war between Democrats and Republicans has eroded American consumers' confidence about the country's economic outlook in the coming years, a latest poll showed on Friday.

Only 43 percent of respondents said they felt optimistic about US economic prospects in the coming four years, compared to 48 percent who said so in 2005, according to the poll jointly conducted earlier this month by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and NBC News.

About 35 percent of respondents remained pessimistic about the US economic outlook in the next four years, while 22 percent held a mixed view, the WSJ said in its report on Friday.

In the United States, the so-called "fiscal cliff" has just been averted through an 11th-hour deal, but a partisan fight over raising the nation's debt ceiling is looming. Congress Republicans have intended to use a government default or shutdown as the bargaining chip to push for government spending cuts.

Experts said that the frequent and fierce budget fight between Democrats and Republicans has added uncertainty to the US economic recovery.