A new period of split government in Washington began about three months ago, and yet public opinion of President Joe Biden, the legislative leadership in both parties, and Congress as a whole remains overwhelmingly negative with no no economic progress, a new survey from the Pew Research Center reveals.
The gloomy outlook of Americans goes beyond the realm of politics. Nearly half of Americans predict that economic conditions are going to worsen over the next year, and this pessimism has persisted over the past few months.
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A Pew Research Center survey reveals that Americans are quite pessimistic about government being unable to solve major problems. The study also uncovers that Biden holds a low approval rating amid citizens. The survey had included 5,079 members of the Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel few days ago.
Declining trusts of Americans
The percentage of Americans who believe the country cannot address many of its critical problems has risen dramatically, from 41% a year ago to 56% now. The people’s trust in the political knowledge of the general population has even declined in recent years. The percentage of persons who have little or no faith in the political acumen of the American people has increased from 62% in 2021 to 76% currently.
Biden’s job approval rating is still below 40%, Only 37% of his colleagues approve of the work he’s doing, while 60% disapprove. However, only 35% of Americans are pleased with how Democratic congressional leaders are performing their duties, and even fewer (29% of Americans) are satisfied with how Republican congressional leaders are performing their duties.
Is the current congress being biased?
Despite the public’s longstanding dissatisfaction with the legislative branch, only 26% have a positive opinion of the current Congress. Democrats and Democrats-leaning independents have a favorable view of Congress at 28%, while Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have a favorable view of Congress at 26%. In recent years, Republicans were more inclined to have negative perceptions of Democratic-led Congresses.
Republicans in the House have been busy since they took power in January, looking into everything from Biden administration policy to allegations of misconduct by Biden family members. A majority of Americans (59%) have low confidence that the investigations being led by the Republican Party will be fair and reasonable, while only about a third (39%).
Low confidence on Biden?
The faith in Biden’s ability to handle serious challenges remains low, at best. While 50% of Americans have faith in Biden’s capacity to respond to a natural disaster, he only has mid-to-high 30% approval ratings on his handling of other issues, including as the economy and working successfully with Congress.
Biden’s personal image is a study in contrasts!
While 53% of Americans give him credit for standing up for his convictions, only about half as many (27%) describe him as inspiring. Over 40% believe that he is honest and cares about the problems of regular Americans, but only 31% think the adjective “mentally sharp” characterizes him very or pretty well.
All of Biden‘s personal attributes are rated poorly by Republicans. Majorities of Democrats rate him highly in a variety of ways, but fewer of them find him intellectually stimulating or motivating.
Similarly, the public no longer gives Biden as much credit as they did in his first few months in office for raising the level of civility in American political discourse.
Almost four in ten respondents believe he has altered the tone of political discourse for the worse (39%), while only 20% believe he has altered the tone for the better (39%). Several months into his administration, in April 2021, a majority of Americans (44%) felt he had improved the tone of discourse while only 29% felt he had made things worse.
American’s worries on US economy rises
The survey shows that Americans’ perceptions of the economy have hardly changed since January. Only 19% think the economy is in excellent or good shape right now, while 46% think it’s only fair and 35% think it’s in poor shape. And although 46% anticipate worsening economic conditions over the coming year, only 17% expect improvement, and 36% estimate little change from the present state of affairs.
Since January, the proportion of people who expect economic conditions to worsen has increased by 6 percentage points. Many people are still worried about the rising expense of living. Almost all Americans worry about the rising cost of basic necessities, with 72% expressing serious concern.
Sixty-one percent also report feeling extremely worried about home prices. The soundness of banks and financial institutions, among other economic challenges, receives less attention.
Citizens claim, “US is unable to solve major problems”
Approximately a year ago, a majority (57%) believed that “as Americans, we can always find a way to solve our problems,” while fewer (41%) believed that the nation could not solve many of its major problems.
Currently, more people believe that the nation cannot solve problems than those who believe it can.
The shift has occurred roughly equally among members of both parties, with 58% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans now believing the country is helpless in the face of serious challenges.
The U.S. economy is unfair: Republicans
In recent years, Republicans have become more likely to express the view that the current economic system unfairly benefits a small number of strong interests. Overall, 77% of the public believes the system favors powerful interests unfairly, while only 23% believe it is fair. Approximately two-thirds of Republicans (68%) believe the economic system favors the powerful unjustly, up from 50% in 2019. Democrats have changed less, despite an 85 percent majority who find the system unfair.
Source: Pew Research Center
