President Joe Biden’s approval has hit a new low of 38% as Americans lose faith in his ability to handle soaring inflation, according to a new survey.
The new CNN/SSRS poll found that nearly 7 in 10 (68%) disapprove of Biden’s performance, a new high. Only a quarter of those surveyed approves of how Biden handles inflation.
The poll, conducted from June 13 to July 13, comes shortly after the Biden administration released the latest Consumer Price Index report last month showing inflation soared 9.1% from a year ago, the biggest hike since 1981.
Americans are losing faith in the president, with the poll finding that nearly 8 in 10 (79%) think things are getting worse, a level not seen since February 2009. And just 31% think the president “has had the right priorities.” Plus, 68% said Biden is not even paying attention to the worst problems in the country.
It all gets worse. Biden’s approval ratings for handling the economy stand at 30%, and 25% support his efforts to hold down inflation. What’s more, 75% say inflation and the cost of living are the most important economic problem facing their family, a jump from 43% last summer.
The new poll comes after another earlier this month by Gallup that found Americans’ confidence in “the presidency” as an institution has dropped to 23% from 38% in 2021 — a record low since the survey began in 1973.
But it wasn’t just the presidency that took a hit. The survey found that an average of just 27% of those polled had either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in 14 major institutions that Gallup has measured for decades: the church/organized religion, the military, the Supreme Court, banks, public schools, newspapers, Congress, organized labor, big business, television news, the presidency, the police, the medical system, and the criminal justice system.
The new confidence level in the 14 sectors is down from 32% in 2021 and even plunged below the previous low of 30% in 2014.
“Americans are less confident in major U.S. institutions than they were a year ago, with significant declines for 11 of the 16 institutions tested and no improvements for any. The largest declines in confidence are 11 percentage points for the Supreme Court — as reported in late June before the court issued controversial rulings on gun laws and abortion — and 15 points for the presidency, matching the 15-point drop in President Joe Biden’s job approval rating since the last confidence survey in June 2021,” Gallup wrote.
The Gallup survey follows another by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that found that 85% of U.S. adults believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.