Voters see inflation as top issue facing the country: poll

Inflation topped the list of issues facing the country that voters are most concerned about in a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey released exclusively to The Hill on Monday.

Thirty-three percent of voters polled said price increases and inflation were the top issues facing the country. Another 28 percent said the economy and jobs were top issues, while 22 percent named the coronavirus. Seventeen percent of voters said crime and drugs were a top issue. 

The poll also found that 60 percent of respondents called inflation “a very serious issue,” while 73 percent said they were personally impacted by the issue. 

“America is a bundle of fears today and at the top of that list is fear if inflation, edging out nuclear weapons as a fear that’s broad and deep in nature,” said Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey.

“We have not had rampant inflation for 50 years so most are unfamiliar with it and how to react,” he continued. “They mostly blame Biden’s policies not Putin for the surge.” 

Democrats have struggled to combat Republican messaging on inflation, and the poll shows the Biden administration appears to lack voters’ confidence on the issue. 

Fifty-five percent of voters said they were not confident in the Biden administration’s ability combat rising costs, while 56 percent said the same about the federal reserve. 

The Biden administration has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for rising gas prices, but polling shows Americans do not appear to be buying the message. 

Forty-eight percent said they blamed President Biden for the surge in prices, while 24 percent said they blamed Putin. Another 16 percent said they blamed the Federal Reserve. 

The Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey of 1,966 registered voters was conducted April 20 and April 21. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.

The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. As a representative online sample, it does not report a probability confidence interval.