U.S. consumer confidence was little changed in March as fading fears of a recession took a backseat to growing concerns about the nation's political environment ahead of November's presidential election, a survey showed on Tuesday. The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index dipped to 104.7 this month, essentially unchanged from a downwardly revised 104.8 in February. "Recession fears continued to trend downward," said Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board in Washington.