Only 35 percent say US economy doing well: poll

Only 35 percent of adults in the U.S. think the economy is doing well, while 65 percent say it’s poor, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. 

Those numbers represent a significant change from September, when 45 percent of Americans said the economy was good.

The findings released on Monday are more closely aligned with the public’s perception of the national economy in January and February, at the peak of the COVID-19 winter surge, according to the AP.

The poor economic polling numbers come as the U.S. is seeing an increase in prices nationwide, especially at gas pumps, because of bottlenecks in the global supply chain.

Supply chain backups and labor shortages have driven prices up and caused shortages for a number of products, as the economy works to adapt to the current stage of COVID-19.

Suppliers and retailers, a number of which cut prices and laid off workers at the beginning of the pandemic, are now struggling to adapt to the widespread demand as parts of the economy rebound thanks to effective COVID-19 vaccines.

Concerns over inflation are also growing, which could be contributing to the low poll numbers.

In addition to having a poor outlook on the current state of the economy, Americans are also largely pessimistic about the U.S.’s economic future.

Forty-seven percent of those polled said they expect the economy to get worse next year, compared to only 30 percent who believe it will get better, according to the poll.

For comparison, when the AP and NORC surveyed Americans’ outlook on the future of the economy in February and March, 44 percent of those polled said they expected the economy to get better, with only 32 percent saying they thought it would get worse.

President Biden also received low marks for his handling of the economy. Fifty-eight percent of adults said they disapprove of the job he is doing, with only 41 percent saying they approve of his performance.

On the personal side, however, Americans have a positive outlook on their own financial situations. The poll found that 65 percent of Americans think their personal financial situation is good, which has remained relatively stable since pre-pandemic polling, according to the AP.

Twenty-four percent of adults polled, however, said they think their personal finances will get worse next year, according to the poll, which is higher than the 13 percent tracked earlier this year.

The poll surveyed 1,083 adults between Oct. 21 and Oct. 25. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points.