Few in new poll say Biden policies helping middle class

Few Americans in a new survey say that policies enacted by the Biden administration are helping the middle class.

While about half of the public credits President Biden with the U.S. economic upturn in a new survey by Monmouth University, many Americans don’t believe his policies are to thank for the boom in the economy.

Twenty-two percent say Biden deserves a great deal of credit for the economy, while 26 percent said he deserves some credit. Fourteen percent say he does not deserve much credit and 36 percent of respondents say Biden does not deserve any credit at all for the state of the economy.

The responses were split down party lines. Nine out of 10 Democrat respondents gave Biden some credit for the economy while only one in 10 Republicans did the same.

Among middle class families, 16 percent say Biden’s policies have benefitted them a lot, while 33 percent say they have benefitted them a little. Forty-five percent say they have not benefitted them at all and 7 percent aren’t sure.

More middle class families say Biden’s policies have helped them a lot, compared to an October 2023 poll, but more respondents also say they haven’t benefitted at all. The survey noted that “there has been some improvement” for Biden among the middle class opinion, but more people think that wealthier families have seen the most benefit under Biden.  

While the survey shows stark partisan divides, Monmouth noted that the opinions among Democrats and Republicans have been consistent with the Trump and Obama administrations too.

“When it comes to making a connection between the national economy and Americans’ own well-being, Biden is doing about as well as Obama did among his fellow Democrats and similar to how Trump performed among Republicans,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement.

“The problem for Biden is he is doing decidedly worse than either of his two predecessors among independents.”

According to the poll, 61 percent of Democrats say they are benefiting from the economic growth during Biden’s term, but just 27 percent of independents and 14 percent of Republicans said the same.

As Biden and former President Trump look likely to be their respective party’s nominees for the upcoming election, they’re racing to earn support among the critical, and growing, base of independent voters.

The survey was conducted from Feb. 8-12 among 902 adults. The survey has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.