(DCWatchdog.com) – Only a third of Americans approve of how Joe Biden is handling the US economy just as he has set out to try to win a second White House term, a new public opinion poll shows.
The poll by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that an even smaller share of Americans – 24% – believe the national economic conditions to be in good shape.
“Public approval of Biden’s handling of the economy remains low in a time of high inflation, a difficult housing market, and concerns about a potential US government debt default,” the AP report points out.
The survey found that 40% approve of Biden’s overall performance as president of the United States, more or less the same share over the past 1.5 years.
Yet, “only” 31% of the respondents declared that they approved Biden’s policies on hot-button issues such as gun policy and immigration.
The report points out that even among Democrats, only half approve of how the president has tackled the issues in question.
According to the new poll, Biden’s approval rating on the economy is notably lower than his overall rating among Democratic Party supporters.
Thus, while 75% of Democrat voters approve of how the 80-year-old president has fared at his job overall, only 61% of his party’s supporters view his performance positively on the economy.
The survey found that 41% of Democrats rate the US economy as “good” now, compared with 7% of Republican voters.
At the same time, 36% of Democrats think the country is going in the right direction, while only 7% of GOP supporters think so.
On Sunday night, Biden returned to the nation’s capital after a trip to Hiroshima, Japan, for an annual summit meeting of the G7 countries, which focused on the economic effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Before setting off to Japan, the president canceled stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea so he could come back to deal with the White House’s debt limit negotiations with the Republican majority of the US House of Representatives.
The US government risks a default as early as June 1 unless Congress approves a bipartisan deal on upping the borrowing limit.
The current ceiling of $31.4 trillion was technically reached in January. However, while Biden and the Democrats insist on an unconditional debt ceiling raise, the Republicans have put forth a plan to slash trillions of dollars in budget deficit spending over the next decade in exchange for agreeing to a new borrowing limit deal.
“Some Democratic respondents who approve of the president’s performance said they felt flummoxed by life in post-pandemic America and what often seems like a total abandonment of bipartisanship in Washington,” the AP report stresses.
