Peach Tree Times

President Joe Biden’s approval rating remains trapped underwater on a number of critical issues, with a new Ipsos/ABC News poll finding that just 37% of Americans now approve of his handling of the country’s economic recovery.

The sputtering numbers are nothing new for the president, with researchers saying his approval rating is now 3% below where it stood just two months ago and 16% below nearly a year ago, when more than half of Americans (53%) indicated they approved of his performance.

"While Biden’s standing on these issues remains largely unchanged from the last time these questions were asked in April, this poll also illustrates that the economy is poised to be an extremely important factor in the midterm elections this November," researchers said in a June 5 release.

Overall, researchers found roughly a quarter of Americans now approve of the administration’s handling of both inflation (28%) and gas prices (27%).  Even among Democrats, researchers found the president is struggling mightily, registering just 56% approval on his handling of inflation and 51% approval when it comes to the gas price crisis.

Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending May 2022 that points to an 8.6% all items annual increase, which speaks to an 0.3 hike from last month and a new four-decade high. The largest individual increases were those seen in the areas of shelter, gasoline and food.

In Georgia, AAA reports current gas prices now stand at an average $4.49 per gallon, compared to the $5.01 national average as of June 13 that represented "an all-time high never seen since AAA began collecting pricing data in 2000."

Just last month, the index for gasoline climbed 4.1%, more than offsetting April’s drop and continuing a trend that has seen the index tick up by 48.7 % over the last 12 months. During the month of April, the shelter index increased 0.6%, the largest monthly increase in nearly two decades and the food index rose 1.2% in May, while the food at home index increased 1.4%.

Researchers also found that among Americans who reported to be very enthusiastic to vote in November, two out of three or 66% say the economy will be extremely important in their vote, while 62% say the same about inflation. By contrast, less than one in three or 30% of respondents said the coronavirus pandemic will be extremely important, highlighting how the economy has outpaced COVID-19 as an issue most Americans now view as being far more pressing.  

The two-day poll was conducted June 3 to June 4, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel® and is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 542 adults 18 years of age or older.