Economic satisfaction plunged over President Joe Biden’s first year in office as the cost of goods and services surged and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal life.
A new Gallup poll found that just 33% of adults surveyed in the United States are satisfied with the current state of the economy, a steep drop from just before Biden took office, when 43% said the same, and from just before the pandemic took hold, when 68% said they were satisfied with the economy.
Sixty-four percent of the people surveyed in January said they were dissatisfied with the economy, including about 1 in 3 who said they were “very dissatisfied” with the country’s situation. The numbers are the worst since January 2014.
CONFIDENCE IN BIDEN ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT IS IN SHARP DECLINE, PEW POLL FINDS
Inflation has accelerated to 7% in the year ending in December, the fastest pace since 1982, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Satisfaction with U.S. energy policies dropped from 42% this time last year to a meager 27% today, a massive drop that coincides with much higher gas prices across the country. U.S. satisfaction with energy policy is now the lowest in Gallup’s records. One of Biden’s first acts as president was effectively canceling the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which was hailed by environmental activists but met with derision from Republicans. The president has also moved to tighten regulations on the oil and gas industry and limit new leases on public lands.
The polls portend a difficult midterm season for Democrats, who were hoping to run on digging the economy out of its pandemic-induced rut but are now working to contend with soaring inflation, which Republicans have blamed on the administration’s major spending programs.
Democrats hold only tenuous control of the Senate and have just a handful of votes to spare in the House. Republicans smell blood in the water and are hoping to seize control of Congress later this year, undoubtedly putting the brakes on Biden’s spending agenda.
Another policy area that saw a big decline in satisfaction was military strength and preparedness. Sixty-one percent of people are satisfied with the country’s military preparedness, down from 74% at the start of 2021. The hasty U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan over the summer ended in the deaths of 13 service members and was largely criticized as unprepared and botched.
The poll also shows just how much the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the well-being of so many across the country. Prior to the pandemic, 84% of people were satisfied with their overall quality of life in the U.S. That number plunged to 67% last year and is now resting at about 69%.
U.S. satisfaction with how the country deals with crime has also fallen off since before the pandemic, which was marked by racial justice protests that sometimes morphed into riots and a big surge in crime across many major metropolitan areas. Only 1 in 4 adults were satisfied with the country’s policies on crime, down from about half before the pandemic.
“Americans’ satisfaction with the state of the nation took a major hit after a difficult 2020 and early 2021, and mostly did not improve in the past 12 months,” Gallup said in its bottom line. “Collectively, satisfaction at the start of 2022 in a variety of areas is about as bad as it’s been in two decades of Gallup measurement. In many areas, such as crime and abortion, the percentage of Americans satisfied has not been lower.”
One of the few areas that saw gains from a year ago was satisfaction with the position of black people and minorities in the country, which increased 5 percentage points to 40% this year. Satisfaction about the country’s acceptance of gays and lesbians also increased from 55% to 62% over the past year — the highest level of satisfaction gauged since the poll started asking the question.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Gallup survey is largely in line with what other polls are saying. A Pew Research Center poll released earlier this month found that public confidence in Biden’s handling of major topics such as the economy has fallen off dramatically since the start of his first year.
A minority of people, 44%, said that they were either very or somewhat confident in the president’s ability to make sound decisions about economic policy. That is a sizable drop from the 56% who said the same when they were asked that question in March.
