A recent Fox Business poll shows that a plurality of American voters blame President Joe Biden for the challenges facing the American economy.
According to the survey — conducted between December 11 and December 14 — 47% of Americans believe that Biden’s actions are “hurting” the situation, while only 22% believe they are “helping.” Likewise, 46% believe that Biden’s social spending plan would “push inflation higher,” while 21% believe it would “help lower inflation.”
“One thing the president has going for him is low expectations,” Democratic pollster Chris Anderson explained. “If the spending plans start to have positive impacts in people’s lives, maybe some will reconsider their view of Biden.”
Other insights from the poll show, from Fox News:
- Two-thirds think Biden’s leadership is at least somewhat responsible for inflation — and about the same number blame regular economic cycles. Larger and roughly equivalent majorities blame the pandemic, government spending and regulations, and company price gouging.
- Rising prices over the last six months have caused financial hardship for two-thirds of voters. That climbs to three-quarters among those living in lower-income households.
- By more than two-to-one, people say the president’s economic policies have hurt rather than helped them personally. That’s largely driven by almost two-thirds of Republicans saying they’ve been hurt — nearly five times the number of Democrats who say the same. For comparison, one-third of Democrats said they had been hurt by former President Donald Trump’s economic policies in a December 2018 Fox News survey.
- Just 1 in 6 voters say they are better off financially than they were a year ago, and a majority rates their personal financial situation negatively. That’s a reversal since August, when over half said their finances were in positive shape.
The dire outcomes for Biden follow multiple inflation indices hitting record levels.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index — which the Federal Reserve uses to chart monetary policy decisions — hit a year-over-year rate of 4.1% in October. More recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the Consumer Price Index is rising at a 6.8% clip — the largest year-over-year increase since June 1982.
During testimony recently delivered to Congress, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that inflation presents difficulties to American households.
“Most forecasters, including at the Fed, continue to expect that inflation will move down significantly over the next year as supply and demand imbalances abate,” Powell said. “It is difficult to predict the persistence and effects of supply constraints, but it now appears that factors pushing inflation upward will linger well into next year. In addition, with the rapid improvement in the labor market, slack is diminishing, and wages are rising at a brisk pace.”
“We understand that high inflation imposes significant burdens, especially on those less able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation. We are committed to our price-stability goal. We will use our tools both to support the economy and a strong labor market and to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched,” he added.
On Wednesday, the central bank announced plans to more rapidly conclude its asset purchase program — although it plans to leave interest rates near zero.