Three in five Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of economic recovery
Washington, DC, June 5th, 2022 --
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that President Joe Biden’s approval rating on a number of key issues—including economic recovery, inflation, and gas prices—remains underwater with the American public, as a majority disapprove of the job the president is doing. 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. Finally, in the wake of the recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, the poll finds that 70% of Americans feel that enacting laws to reduce gun violence is a higher priority than protecting the right to own a wide variety of guns.
Detailed Findings:
- Although President Biden’s approval rating on issues has stayed consistent over the past few months, it remains low, with gas prices and inflation at the bottom of the list.
- A majority of Americans, 56%, continue to approve of Biden’s COVID-19 response. However, this positive sentiment does not extend to other issues.
- Currently, 37% approve of Biden’s handling of the economic recovery. This rating is in line with views from the past few months (40% in April), but it represents a 16-percentage point decline from nearly a year ago (53% approval in July 2021).
- Only a quarter approve of Biden’s handling of inflation (28%) and gas prices (27%). Notably, Biden only earns a bare majority of Democrats’ support on both of these issues: 56% of Democrats approve of the job he’s doing on inflation, and 51% feel the same about gas prices.
- Among Americans who report they are very enthusiastic to vote in November, the economy and inflation are the most important issues. Currently, Republicans outnumber Democrats in their stated enthusiasm to vote in the midterms.
- Two in five Americans say they are very enthusiastic to vote in November, unchanged from April (39%). Republicans hold a significant advantage in voting enthusiasm: 57% say they are very enthusiastic, compared to 44% of Democrats.
- Among those who are most enthusiastic, 66% say the economy will be extremely important in their vote. Sixty-two percent say the same about inflation. Far fewer of the most enthusiastic (27%) say that the coronavirus pandemic will be extremely important in their voting plans.
- The vast majority of Americans continue to prioritize enacting laws to reduce gun violence over protecting the right to own a wide variety of guns. However, partisans are in opposition on the issue.
- Overall, 70% say enacting new laws should be higher priority, and 29% say the higher priority is protecting the right to own a wide variety of guns.
- The gap between these two priorities has slightly widened (net +9 points) from March 2021 (66% enacting laws vs. 34% protecting gun ownership).
- Nine in ten Democrats and 75% of independents agree that the higher priority should be enacting new laws to reduce gun violence. However, the majority of Republicans (56%) instead say the higher priority is to protect the right to own a variety of guns.
About the Study
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted June 3 to June 4, 2022, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 542 adults age 18 or older.
The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.
The study was conducted in both English and Spanish. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from 2021 Current Population Survey (CPS) from the US Census Bureau. Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The weighting categories were as follows:
- Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59, and 60+)
- Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other or 2+ Races Non-Hispanic, Hispanic)
- Education (High School graduate or less, Some College, Bachelor and beyond)
- Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
- Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
- Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
- Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Something else)
The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.29. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. Sampling error is only one potential source of error. There may be other unmeasured non-sampling error in this or any poll. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.
About Ipsos
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