As President Joe Biden embarks on his reelection campaign, only 33% of American adults say they approve of his handling of the economy, while only 24% say national economic conditions are in good shape. The results are according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The public approval for the president’s handling of the economy remains low during a time of high inflation, concerns about a potential U.S. government debt default and a difficult housing market. American opinion also remains gloomy about Biden’s efforts on immigration and gun policy, with only 31% saying they approved of the president’s performance on the hot button issues. Overall, only 40% say they approved of the way the president is doing his job. The percentage is similar to where his approval rating has held for much of the past year and a half.
Even among Democrats, the poll found only around half approve of Biden’s handling of gun policy and immigration.
Biden returned late on Sunday from an overseas visit to Hiroshima, Japan for the G7 annual summit where the main focus remained on the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The summit was overshadowed by the Biden administration’s negotiations with GOP lawmakers to raise the U.S. borrowing authority to prevent an early June default that could have a severe global economic impact. Before leaving Japan, Biden canceled scheduled stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea so he could return to the United States and focus on debt limit talks.
The Biden administration has overseen two of the most substantial Social Security cost-of-living adjustments in recent decades, with a 5.9% increase put in place in 2022 and 8.7% in 2023. However, for many individuals and families, it hasn’t been enough to keep up with rental increases, and rising costs of gas, food, and other basic necessities.
Immigration remains point of dissatisfaction with Biden’s presidency
During the 2022 budget year, which ended in September, agents apprehended immigrants a record-breaking 2.38 million times at the southern border.
Title 42 restrictions, implemented by former President Trump to help stop the spread of Covid-19, recently ended May 11, meaning pre-pandemic immigration laws that imposed stricter penalties for migrants entering the United States without permission that the health order emergency did.
President Joe Biden underperforms on the economy even among Democrats. Sixty-one percent approve of him on the issue compared with 75% for his overall job. Democrats feel even more dismal about the current condition of the nation’s economy, although they continue to be more likely than the GOP to say the country is heading in the right direction (36% vs. 7%) or who rate the economy as good (41% vs. 7%).
Some Democrats who responded they approve of the president’s performance said they felt flummoxed by life in post-pandemic America and what seems like a complete abandonment of bipartisanship in Washington.
The poll of 1,680 adults was conducted May 11-15 using a sample drawn from the NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is meant to be representative of the U.S. population. The sampling error margin for all respondents is minus or plus 3.4 percentage points.
