So This Is ‘Bidenomics?’ Americans Are More Than Twice As Likely To Hold Negative Views of the Economy

Even as President Joe Biden prepares to deliver a speech in Chicago on Wednesday touting “Bidenonomics,” far more Americans think the economy is doing poorly than think the economy is doing well.

A Gallup poll released on Wednesday showed Americans’ assessments of the U.S. economy have improved significantly in the past month but remain deeply negative. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index ropse from -43 in May to -32 in June. That is the best score since January 2022, when the index registered at -22.

The Gallup index has a theoretical range of -100, which would indicate that all Americans rate current conditions as poor and say the economy is getting worse, to +100, which would indicate that all Americans rate conditions as excellent or good and say the economy is improving. The index has been in negative territory for all but two months of Biden’s presidency. It fell to -58 last summer, the worst reading since the Great Recession and the financial crisis.

The latest survey was taken just after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reached a deal with the White House to lift the limit on the federal government’s debt. The risks associated with a debt ceiling crisis appear to have weighed on economic confidence.

Americans are more than twice as likely to hold a negative view of the economy than a positive view. Just 19 percent of the economy rate current economic conditions as excellent or good while 44 percent rate the economy as poor. This brings the current conditions gauge to a score of -30. Thirty-seven percent of Americans say economic conditions are “only fair.”

The economic outlook part of the index showed more substantial improvement, likely a reflection of the resolution of the debt ceiling negotiations. Still, the share saying conditions are getting worse is more than twice the share who say they are getting better.

Just 27 percent of Americans say the economy is improving and 66 percent say it is getting worse. A month early, 20 percent said the economy was getting better and 76 percent said it was getting worse.

Even Democrats are barely optimistic about the economy, with just a +5 score on the confidence index. Republicans are highly negative, at a -65 index score, up 14 points from a month ago. Independents are at -35, up 13 points from a month earlier.

Democrats’ evaluations of current economic conditions were. They divide evenly as to whether the economy is getting better or worse, at 46 percent and 47 percent respectively.  Thirty-four percent of Democrats say current conditions are excellent or good and 23 percent say they are poor.

More than twice as many independents say the economy is getting worse—67 percent—than say it is getting better—26 percent.

Seventy-six percent of Republicans say the economy is getting worse, an improvement from last month’s 90 percent.