President Joe Biden's handling of the economy gets low grades in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey, which finds that 57% now give the president a poor rating, up from 55% in December.
Only 27% of likely U.S. voters rate the president excellent or good.
An overwhelming 74% of voters say the U.S. economy has worsened in the past year. Only 11% think the economy has improved, while 13% believe it has stayed about the same over the past year.
The annual inflation rate is currently 8.6%, and the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 1.5% in the first quarter of this year.
The results fell along party lines, somewhat. Republicans (91%) are more likely than Democrats (54%) or unaffiliated voters (76%) to say the economy has gotten worse in the past year.
According to Rasmussen, 50% of Democrat voters rate Biden excellent or good on his handling of economic issues, but only 8% of Republicans and 20% of unaffiliated voters concur. In the Rasmussen poll, 86% of Republicans and 62% of unaffiliated voters give Biden a poor rating for his handling of the economy, as do 24% of Democrats.
While Biden has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and major oil companies for the historically high price of gasoline, only 29% of voters think oil companies bear most responsibility for rising fuel costs, and just 11% say Putin is mainly to blame. More than half — 52% — believe Biden’s energy policies are most responsible.
The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas on Tuesday fell to $4.96, down $0.05 from a week ago and from $5 on Friday, three days after hitting its all-time peak of nearly $5.02, according to AAA, which updates the figure daily.
The rising price of gasoline, home heating oil, and other petroleum products are viewed as a serious problem by 92% of voters, including 68% who consider rising fuel costs a very serious problem. In April, 83% said rising petroleum prices was a serious problem.
More Republicans (88%) than Democrats (53%) or unaffiliated voters (65%) think rising fuel costs are a very serious problem.
Americans are divided by party lines with blame for rising fuel costs, with 80% of Republicans saying Biden’s policies are most to blame. Among Democrat voters, 46% blame major oil companies, and 20% blame Putin for high gas prices.
A full 75% of whites, 56% of Black voters, and 79% of other minorities say the economy has worsened over the past year. Black voters (43%) are more likely than whites (26%) or other minorities (19%) to rate Biden excellent or good on his handling of economic issues.
Women voters (32%) are somewhat more likely than men (26%) to think oil companies bear most responsibility for rising fuel costs, while more men (57%) than women voters (47%) say Biden is to blame.
Voters under 40 are less likely than their elders to rate Biden poor for his handling of the economy, and are also most likely to blame rising fuel prices on major oil companies, according to Rasmussen.
Voters with annual incomes between $30,000 and $50,000 are most likely to say the economy has gotten worse over the past year. Voters with annual incomes over $200,000 are least likely to blame Biden for higher fuel prices.
More private sector workers (61%) than government employees (47%) give Biden a poor rating for his handling of the economy.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. likely voters was conducted June 16-19 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
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