Nearly two-thirds of Americans say inflation is a very serious problem heading into the November election, and voters are more likely to trust former President Trump to deal with the issue than President Biden, according to a new poll.
Latest YouGov PollA poll released Friday showed inflation topped voters’ list of biggest concerns, with 64 percent of respondents saying inflation is a big problem.
The survey included 25 issues to rank as serious, somewhat serious, minor, or not a problem.
Other issues ranked as of most serious concern to voters included corruption (57%), drug abuse (56%), homelessness (55%), the weakening of democracy (54%) and a lack of affordable housing (54%).
Nearly half say violent crime (51%), gun violence (51%), illegal immigration (50%) and poverty (49%) are very serious problems facing the country.
Religious prejudice (25%), sexism (22%) and lack of public transport (17%) were the issues on the list least likely to be cited as serious.
The poll also found deep partisan divides on the most pressing issues facing the country: Majorities of Democrats surveyed said the most serious problems were gun violence (76%) and climate change (70%), while Republicans cited inflation (82%) and illegal immigration (79%) as their biggest concerns.
On 23 of the 25 issues surveyed, more Americans said they strongly or somewhat approve of Trump’s handling of the issue than Biden’s.
Among those who perceive inflation as a very serious problem, 60% say they support the former president’s plan to tackle the inflation issue, compared with 15% who say they approve of Biden’s response to record-high inflation.
Investors and economists have warned that inflation could rise under the policies proposed by President Trump and his Republican Party if they win a landslide victory in the next election.
The Labor Department reported this week that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to a 3% year-over-year increase in June, down from 3.3% in May, marking the first month of falling prices since the pandemic began.
“Today’s report shows that we’re making great progress in fighting inflation,” Biden boasted of the news.
Prices remain at least 3% higher than a year ago, but far from the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
On other issues of concern, voters were less optimistic about either candidate’s ability to address them: More than half of survey respondents (55%) consider homelessness to be a very serious problem, but of those, just 25% approve of Biden’s handling of the issue and 29% approve of Trump’s.
YouGov Poll Contains answers The survey surveyed 2,272 adults July 1-6 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
