80% of US Voters Say Inflation Is Their Biggest Concern... Red Light for Biden's Reelection Path

Major Foreign Media and University of Michigan Ross School of Business Survey
58% of Voters "Do Not Support Bidenomics"

Eight out of ten American voters identified inflation as the biggest economic issue. Despite the U.S. economy's solo boom and strong employment, failure to control high prices is expected to pose challenges to President Joe Biden's reelection bid in November.

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According to a poll conducted from the 2nd to the 6th by major foreign media and the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, surveying 1,003 voters, 58% of respondents said they do not support President Biden's economic policies (margin of error ±3.1 percentage points). This is a 3 percentage point increase from 55% last month.

The percentage of respondents who said that Bidenomics?the term referring to President Biden's economic policies?has helped the U.S. economy fell by 4 percentage points from last month to 28%.

The poll confirms that despite the U.S. economy's solid growth rate and employment, voters' evaluations of Bidenomics are becoming less favorable. In particular, price increases centered on items such as groceries and gasoline were identified as the biggest obstacles to President Biden's approval rating gains.

Among voters, 80% cited rising prices as their greatest financial stress, up 1 percentage point from 79% last month. As inflation has remained strong this year, voters' perceptions of the U.S. economy have not significantly improved. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the inflation gauge most closely watched by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), rose 2.7% year-over-year in March. This exceeded both the market forecast (2.6%) and the previous month's increase (2.5%), as well as the Fed's inflation target of 2% by a wide margin.

Besides inflation, 49% of respondents expressed concerns about income levels. Those who identified housing rent as the biggest financial problem accounted for 32%, rising 4 and 5 percentage points respectively from the previous month.

High inflation in the U.S. is expected to delay the Fed's timing for lowering its benchmark interest rate, making President Biden's reelection more difficult. Even if the Fed cuts rates before the election, it will take considerable time for borrowing costs to decrease, resulting in a low perceived effect.

Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University, recently told ABC News, "High interest rates suppress economic growth and could harm the president's reelection," adding that the delay in rate cuts is "the only unknown schedule, and it may be too late to have a significant impact on economic performance."

Furthermore, the poll also confirmed that American voters trust former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, more than President Biden regarding economic policies.

Forty-three percent of respondents said they prefer former President Trump on economic matters, a 2 percentage point increase from last month. Only 35% of voters said they trust President Biden's economic policies. Sixteen percent of voters said they do not trust either President Biden or former President Trump.