CNN: Have to Go Back to 2009 to Find Time Electorate This Dissatisfied with Country's Direction
A new CNN poll found Americans more dissatisfied with the direction of the country than at any time since 2009.
The United States was coming out of the Great Recession at that time with the unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent. Democrats held the White House and both chambers of Congress.
CNN political director David Chalian shared the results of the network’s latest survey on Monday, highlighting that only 21 percent of Americans believe things are going well in the country.
CNN combined the “very well” and “fairly well” numbers in its on-air graphic of the poll’s results.
Only 1 percent of respondents said the country is going “very well,” and 20 percent said “fairly well.”
CNN: “You have to go back to 2009 to find a time when the American electorate was this dissatisfied with the way things are going.” pic.twitter.com/IaxdHjC0Cl
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 19, 2022
Regardless, Chalian said of the 21 percent number, “You have to go back to 2009 to find a time when the American electorate was this dissatisfied with the way things were going in the country.”
He further noted that 82 percent of poll respondents rate U.S. economic conditions as “poor,” and only 18 percent said they are “good.”
[firefly_poll]
Only 30 percent approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, and 69 percent disapprove.
By way of comparison, in December 45 percent approved and 54 percent disapproved, so Biden has seen a dramatic decline.
The president’s overall approval rating now stands at 38 percent, with 62 percent disapproving.
David Winston, writing for Roll Call, crunched some numbers in May comparing where the Republicans stood going into the 2010 red wave midterm elections to where they stand in 2022.
In those elections, conducted while Barack Obama was president, Republicans picked up 63 seats in a tea party fueled rout, ending up with a 242-193 advantage over Democrats.
“In 2010, by this point in the election year, voters’ confidence in Obama’s handling of the economy, the No. 1 issue, was heading south as voters said they had more confidence in Republicans to handle the economy by 5 points,” Winston wrote.
The economy, inflation and gas prices are the top three issues for voters going into this year’s midterms, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released in June.
Biden’s approval rating on the top 3 issues for 2022 voters:
• Economy: 37%
• Inflation: 28%
• Gas prices: 27% https://t.co/CQ2W5vif8P— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) June 6, 2022
A Hill-HarrisX poll released in May showed Republicans with a 12 percentage point advantage over Democrats in handling the economy, which should bode well for GOP in taking back the House and perhaps the Senate.
