A majority of Americans, irrespective of race, gender, age, education, income and party affiliation currently have an unfavorable view of the US economy under President Joe Biden, a new poll has revealed.
Furthermore, ex-POTUS Donald Trump leads Biden in five of six key battlegrounds polled by The New York Times and Siena College.
Eight in 10 of the voters surveyed assessed the current plight of their country’s economy as fair or poor. The poll also showed 59% of voters thought Trump could do a better job putting the US economy back on track.
However, a report in The New York Times homed in on what it perceived as a confusing "disconnect," as despite consumer optimism being in the doldrums, data showed that Americans were spending more, not skimping on vacations, and generally behaving out of sync with these prevalent sentiments.
Screenshot of chart by a New York Times/Siena College poll of six battleground states showing that voters rate the economy unfavorably.
© Photo : New York Times/Siena College poll
Some experts in the US are warning the "disconnect" could be "pivotal" in the 2024 election.
Indeed, the 81-year-old Democratic POTUS has been enthusiastically touting his Bidenomics, policies that Democrats have staked upon when arguing the case for Biden’s fresh four-year term in the White House.
Bald facts do show that inflation is slowing somewhat, unemployment is currently low, and real wages are increasing. Figures issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in September claimed that gross domestic product (GDP) growth had registered at 4.9%.
However, the reality is that the US is hurtling towards recession, experts previously told Sputnik. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes aimed at controlling inflation fueled by sanctions on energy and food exporter Russia were driving the country to ruin, economists have warned.
Officials pointed to the record-breaking levels of government debt and trade deficits, and consumer prices that were up 3.2% in October from the year before. Combined with contractions in the manufacturing and housing sectors, Wall Street economists have warned of odds of around 60% that a recession could be expected over the next year. Many of them have argued US consumer spending may be losing steam, and pointed to the fact that personal consumption constitutes close to 70% of the US economy.
Many of the voters who participated in the Times-Siena poll were subsequently questioned by the US outlet, only to reveal that despite having jobs and being able to make ends meet, they felt as if they were “just getting by,” with “nothing left over.” The feelings of anger and anxiety that voters laid bare were driven by “obscene” inflation-driven prices, and politics on a larger scale.
Screenshot of chart showing results of a New York Times/Siena College poll of six battleground US states.
© Photo : New York Times/Siena Poll
Inflation “casts a long shadow on how people evaluate things,” Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard, told the publication. It also singled out the fact that younger people, crucial to Biden’s 2020 election win, displayed dwindling support for him in the new poll. The survey showed that 93% of those polled rated the economy unfavorably - far more than any other age group.
The findings come as Biden's approval rating dropped to its lowest level during his presidency and reached 40%, a US media poll showed on Sunday.
The NBC News poll added that 57% of respondents do not approve of Biden’s performance as the US president. Additionally, the poll showed only 33% are in favor of Biden’s foreign policy, with an erosion of support for the Democrat again seen among young voters.