Only a quarter of Americans rate the economic conditions under the Biden-Harris administration as “excellent or good,” according to a recent Pew Research survey. This comes in stark contrast to the 61% of likely voters who believe that the next president should bring about significant change from the current administration, as found by a New York Times/Siena College poll. Interestingly, only 25% of respondents think Vice President Kamala Harris represents such a change, while a majority believes former President Donald Trump does.
The Pew survey indicates that three main factors are negatively impacting the Biden-Harris administration’s economic outlook: concerns over food and consumer goods prices have remained consistent since 2022, with at least 70% of Americans being very concerned about these costs; worries about housing affordability have risen by 8 percentage points over the past year, from 61% in April 2023 to 69%; and job concerns have increased significantly, with four out of ten Americans expressing great concern about jobseekers struggling to find employment. This last point has seen a 9-point rise since January and a 13-point increase since April 2023.
The Pew Research Center conducted the survey from August 26th to September 2nd, sampling 9,720 Americans with a margin of error of ±1.3 percent. This poll coincides with another piece of news that suggests rising inflation and increased consumer prices: the Department of Labor reported that core consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, rose by 0.3% in August, up from the previous month’s increase of 0.2. The year-over-year comparison shows a 3.2% increase in core inflation.
Significant price increases were observed in categories such as housing, airfares, car insurance, education, and apparel. Housing prices alone rose by 0.5%, bringing the shelter index up 5.2% compared to the previous year. These economic indicators point to a challenging landscape for the Biden-Harris administration and a growing concern among Americans about their financial well-being under this leadership.