A large majority of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction, and much of their blame for the nation’s woes rests on President Joe Biden and the worsening economic crisis.
A new poll from NBC News found that 75 percent of U.S. adults think the nation is on the wrong track. That’s the highest number of unsatisfied Americans since the nation’s last notable recession in 2008. It’s also up nearly 20 percentage points since this time last year and up two percentage points from January 2021 when Biden was inaugurated.
Most of these Americans’ concerns can be traced to federal spending and lockdown-induced economic problems such as inflation, which is taking a far greater toll on Americans than what’s reflected in the 8 percent figure, and record-high gas prices, which recently reached a $4.48 per gallon national average.
Since Biden assumed office, the financial toll these crises have taken on pocketbooks has only worsened and made it difficult for hardworking Americans to keep up.
In the NBC poll, 65 percent of U.S. adults claimed their current paychecks are falling behind their rapidly rising costs of living. Only 6 percent said their family’s income is “going up faster than the cost of living.”
That’s one of the many reasons why, according to NBC, Biden’s approval among U.S. adults recently sank to 39 percent. His disapproval rose to a whopping 56 percent.
A recent Federalist and Susquehanna poll found that 56 percent of U.S. adults specifically disapproved of Biden’s handling of record-high gas prices, and 61 percent disapproved of Biden’s handling of inflation.
As the midterms quickly approach, the country’s economic state and Biden’s flailing track record are a cause for concern for Democrats who were 10 points behind Republicans in The Federalist poll’s generic ballot test. Yet despite significant evidence that the Biden administration and Democrats’ excessive spending has exacerbated inflation, the White House and legislators are still hyperfocused on passing expensive legislation to send aid to Ukraine and other causes.
All the while, Biden is refusing to take responsibility for his role in the nation’s intensifying crisis and instead repeatedly blames Russia’s Vladimir Putin for problems that started long before the Russia-Ukraine war began.