Americans are currently less optimistic than in prior months when it comes to the economy, as inflation has shown signs of persistence, making the chances of interest rate cuts this year slimmer.
That's why it doesn't come as a large surprise that a new Gallup poll shows confidence in the Joe Biden administration on this area has hit a historically low level. Figures regarding his presumptive rival in the November elections, Donald Trump, are higher, although they reflect a partisan divide.
Concretely, 38% of respondents said they trust Biden can recommend or do the right thing for the economy, "among the lowest Gallup has measured for any president since 2001," the pollster said.
Only George W. Bush has ever ranked lower in this index. It happened when he touched a low of 34% in 2008, the last year of his second presidency. The lowest level both Barack Obama and Donald Trump ever touched was 42%, although Trump never stood higher than 50% and Obama hit a high of 71% in 2009, the first year of his first presidency.
Partisanship is reflected when looking at the poll granularly. 86% of Republicans expressed confidence in Trump's economic competence, the figure being 82% for Biden. The gap between the two presidential candidates can be largely explained by independents, as one third said they are confident in Biden but jumped to 45% when talking about Trump.
The decline, however, has not only hit Biden. Confidence in Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is also below 40%. Concretely, it clocked in at 39%, "statistically similar to last year's 36%," according to Gallup.
"Alan Greenspan, who served five terms in the position, inspired majority-level confidence for each of Gallup's five readings between 2001 and 2005. In contrast, the two chairs of the Federal Reserve who followed Greenspan -- Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen -- failed to register confidence ratings above 50%," the pollster explained.
However, it also added that larger amounts of people might not have confidence in Fed chairs because they are not very familiar with their work or who they are. 16% didn't have an opinion on Powell this year.
Americans also have historically low confidence levels on both parties' congressional leaders. "Democratic leadership's latest 38% confidence rating is near the all-time low of 34% recorded in 2023 and below the average of 46% since 2001. Republican leadership's latest 36% rating is well above the 24% low for that group, in 2014, but significantly below the historical average of 43%," the pollster showed.
"Biden's subpar rating could have significant electoral implications as not only does he have the lowest economic rating of any president seeking reelection since Gallup began tracking this in 2001, but independents trust his opponent more than him," it concluded.
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