Biden’s campaigning on ‘Bidenomics,’ but here’s what voters think of his handling of the economy
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As he campaigns for reelection, President Joe Biden has argued “Bidenomics” is working, but a majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of the economy.
Although’s Biden’s approval of the economy has improved slightly since March, rising from 32% to 37% in Gallup polling, it remains one of his weakest issues. A 63% majority disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy, tied with his disapproval on relations with China and behind his 66% disapproval on immigration, his worst-performing issue.
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Americans’ economic confidence has inched up this summer, according to Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, but attitudes are more pessimistic than optimistic and have been since July 2021 as consumers face continued rising costs and high interest rates, raised to tame inflation.
Though the inflation rate is down from earlier highs, the consumer price index without food or energy is at 4.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. The U.S. unemployment rate is at 3.5%, according to the bureau’s July figures, and in June, half of states had either record or near-record low unemployment.
In an editorial published Sunday in The Washington Post, Biden said his administration’s economic agenda was working and he cited the American Rescue Plan, bipartisan infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act among his administration’s “unprecedented investments in all of America.”
“Vice President (Kamala) Harris and I came into office determined to change the economic direction of the country and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down,” Biden wrote. “Our plan — Bidenomics — is working.”
Biden’s approval on the economy is lowest among Republicans, just 3% of whom approve, and a third of independents. Though he has a 74% approval on the economy among Democrats, that still leaves about a quarter of his party dissatisfied on a major issue.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the economy is “certainly not the best” and that “the rich are getting richer, working people are struggling.” Still, Sanders said Biden should “tout his very good record” and he criticized former President Donald Trump as “not somebody who believes in democracy.”
Biden’s highest marks in the Gallup poll came for his handling of the situation in Ukraine at 47% approval, followed by race relations at 46%, education at 44% and labor disputes and foreign policy tied at 38%. Biden’s overall job approval is 42%, up from his 37% low in April, and he had a majority disapproval across his handling of nine issues polled by Gallup.
