Most Americans Poorer Under Biden, More Than 50% Tighten Belt On Food, Poll Shows
© AP Photo / Gene J. PuskarA shopper looks down an aisle in a Target store in Upper Saint Clair, Pa., on Friday, July 7, 2023.
© AP Photo / Gene J. Puskar
Subscribe
The recently lowered outlook of America’s creditworthiness from “stable” to “negative” by Moody’s, continuing installments of the US government shutdown crisis, persistent inflation and surging prices have all fed into recent polls revealing that support for Joe Biden is plunging among American voters.
A majority of Americans claim they are worse off financially under the Biden administration, a new poll has shown.
No matter how eagerly Joe Biden may have been touting his ‘Bidenomics’ to voters throughout the US, but apparently only 14 percent believe their financial situation has improved since the Democrat took office. When asked what the source of their biggest financial stress was, 82 percent of respondents singled out soaring prices, according to an FT-Michigan Ross poll of 1,004 registered voters conducted between 2 and 7 November.
© Photo : FT-Michigan Ross poll Screenshot of chart accompanying FT-Michigan Ross poll of 1,004 registered voters on November 2-7, 2023.
Screenshot of chart accompanying FT-Michigan Ross poll of 1,004 registered voters on November 2-7, 2023.
© Photo : FT-Michigan Ross poll
In fact, an overwhelming three-quarters of respondents acknowledged that surging prices posed the most significant threat to the US economy in the next six months, according to the survey.
The consumer price index in September was 3.7 percent higher than it was a year earlier, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said. This is well above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
Persistent inflation and costs of goods and services have prompted 65 percent of American voters to rein in their non-essential spending, with dining out or holiday travel put on hold, showed the poll. Another 52 percent of those surveyed admitted that they had been forced to cut spending on food and daily necessities.
Judging by the poll results, close to 70 percent of voters believe that Biden’s economic policies either hurt the US economy or had no impact upon it.
An impressive 33 percent went further than that, claiming that those policies have “hurt the economy a lot”.
© Photo : FT-Michigan Ross poll Screenshot of chart accompanying FT-Michigan Ross poll of 1,004 registered voters on November 2-7, 2023.
Screenshot of chart accompanying FT-Michigan Ross poll of 1,004 registered voters on November 2-7, 2023.
© Photo : FT-Michigan Ross poll
“Every group - Democrats, Republicans and independents - list rising prices as by far the biggest economic threat . . . and the biggest source of financial stress. That is bad news for Biden, and the more so considering how little he can do to reverse the perception of prices before election day,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at Michigan’s Ross School, commenting on the findings of the poll.
The poll comes out as credit rating giant Moody's lowered its outlook of America’s creditworthiness from “stable” to “negative” on Friday, citing the country’s deteriorating fiscal position.
The US president's so-called 'Bidenomics' that he has been bragging about, ostensibly geared to “strengthen the middle class” and ensure “the highest economic growth among the world’s leading economies since the pandemic,” has not lived up to the needs of everyday Americans. Economists have been warning that Joe Biden is steering his country into a recession.
Amid the bleak economic growth and the other woes plaguing the country, all of the recent polls have indicated that the Democratic Party could be heading for an electoral car-wreck. A recent poll from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, showed President Biden trailing ex-POTUS Donald Trump in five battleground states, with only a narrow lead in Wisconsin. In addition, Biden's age has also triggered concerns, with at least three-quarters of Americans expressing doubts about his age, according to an August poll.
It should be noted that Americans displayed less pessimism regarding their financial wellbeing under then-president Donald Trump in a similar poll conducted four years ago. At the time, in November 2019, only 31 percent said they were worse off.