Pew Poll: Only 25% Rate Current Economic Conditions ‘Excellent or Good’ 

Only 25 percent of Americans rate the economic conditions under the Biden-Harris administration “excellent or good,” a Pew Research survey found Monday.

The poll is significant because 61 percent of likely voters believe the next president should represent a major change from the Biden-Harris administration, a New York Times/Siena College survey found Sunday. Only 25 percent believe Vice President Kamala Harris represents that change, while a majority think former President Donald Trump does.

In addition, 74 percent of Americans are “very concerned” about the soaring prices of food and consumer products. “Other economic concerns — housing costs and job availability — have increased since 2023,” the poll found.

There’s been little change in concerns over prices for food and consumer goods. Since 2022, at least 70% of Americans have said they are very concerned over the cost of food and consumer goods.

Concerns about housing costs have grown over the last year. The share of Americans who express a high degree of concern over the cost of housing has risen 8 percentage points since April 2023, from 61% to 69%.

Job concerns have increased. Four-in-ten Americans say they are very concerned about “people who want to work being unable to find jobs.” That is 9 points higher than in January and 13 points higher than in April 2023.

The Pew poll sampled 9,720 Americans from August 26 to September 2, 2024, with a ± 1.3 percent margin or error.

The survey comes as a key measure of consumer prices increased by more than expected in August, a signal of rising inflation, Breitbart News’s John Carney reported Wednesday:

The Department of Labor said that core consumer prices, a metric that excludes food and energy prices, rose by 0.3 percent last month. That’s an acceleration from the July increase of 0.2 percent and above the consensus forecast of 0.2 percent.

Compared with a year ago, core inflation is up 3.2 percent.

A big driver of the increase in August was a 0.5 rise in housing prices. Compared with a year ago, the shelter index is up 5.2 percent. Other categories that saw significant price increases include airfares, car insurance, education, and apparel.

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.