(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden’s standing with Americans continues to fall as a majority of people surveyed by Pew Research Center said the U.S. economy has worsened due to soaring prices.
With midterm elections looming in November, a majority of respondents in the poll expressed little or no confidence in Biden amid unusually high inflation and surging Covid cases.
Overall, 41% of adults approve of Biden’s job performance in the January poll, down from 44% in September and 55% in August.
In a highly polarized country, Democrats have become less supportive of the president and less satisfied with the way things are going in the country, according to Pew. About one-third of Democrats rate the economy as excellent or good.
Nearly nine in 10 respondents said that prices for food and consumer goods are worse than a year ago in the Pew survey, released Tuesday. They also had a more negative view of housing and health-care costs, the availability of goods and the federal budget deficit.
Among the few silver linings: the labor market, with a majority saying the availability of jobs has improved in the country.
Besides the uncertain economy, the president is facing major challenges as he enters his second year in office. They include the pandemic, with the omicron variant continuing to spread fast across the country, and international tensions.
As the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates to help cool off decades-high inflation, the poll shows that taming surging prices will be key for the administration.
Pew’s survey was conducted Jan. 10 to Jan. 17 among 5,128 adults.
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