Four in 10 Americans say they’ve gotten worse off financially since Joe Biden took office, the most in ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 37 years, Langer Research Associates reported Sunday, releasing results of its new poll.
In contrast, just 16% say they’re better off financially, results of the survey of 1,003 adults, conducted January 27-February 1, reveal.
The survey also finds that, nearly two years into President Donald Trump’s term, Americans were much more satisfied with their financial progress:
- 41% say they’re not as well off financially as they were when Biden took office, the most in nearly three dozen ABC/Post polls to ask the question since 1986
- 39% of independents say they’re worse off, up from 11% in 2018 under Trump.
- Nearly two years into Trump’s presidency, far fewer – 13% – said they’d become worse off, while more (25%) said they were in better shape financially.
- 58% now say they disapprove of the way Biden is handling the economy, while just 37% approve.
The 41% who say they’re worse off is the most of any of the nearly three dozen times the ABC/Post poll has asked the question since 1986.
Likewise, the 58% who disapprove of Pres. Biden’s handling of the economy are the most since Biden entered the White House. In March of 2021, 41% said they disapproved of Pres. Biden’s handling of the economy. That percentage has grown steadily over the next six surveys to the current high of 58%.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced that his top economic aide, Brian Deese, would be resigning from his position as director of the National Economic Council.
“It has been an unspeakable privilege to serve @POTUS,” Deese tweeted later that day, linking to the White House announcement of his departure.
Nonetheless, on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declared Biden’s economic performance “extraordinary”:
"What we're seeing is extraordinary. Record job creation, as the president has pointed out, more created in two years on his watch than four years on any other president's watch, and usually, when you have unemployment go down like this, you have inflation go up. But right now, inflation is going down as well."