The vice president’s focus has been on beating Donald Trump. But now she’s been hit with a rude awakening.
Because a devastating test result is sending Kamala Harris into a tailspin.
With the 2024 presidential election just weeks away, a majority of Americans are expressing dissatisfaction with their current situation compared to four years ago, according to a new Gallup poll released Friday.
The numbers don’t lie: most Americans feel they are worse off under the Biden-Harris administration than they were back in 2020.
Gallup’s data shows that 52% of respondents said they were “not better off,” a striking contrast to the optimism Americans felt when Trump was in office.
For context, this percentage is even higher than in 1992, the year when sitting President George H.W. Bush was soundly defeated. The poll is a strong indicator that many voters are disillusioned by the current state of affairs.
In a survey conducted in mid-to-late September, Gallup posed the classic question: “Would you say you and your family are better off now than you were four years ago, or are you worse off now?”
The results are telling. Only 39% said they were “better off,” while a notable 9% said their situation remained unchanged.
Interestingly, the poll reveals a significant partisan divide. A whopping 72% of Democrats reported feeling “better off” since 2020.
However, just 7% of Republicans shared that sentiment. Among independent voters, only 35% said they were better off, trailing the national average by four points—a reflection of broader discontent outside of party lines.
Historically, the “Are you better off?” question has served as a litmus test for voter sentiment during presidential elections, dating back to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign.
Gallup has tracked responses in previous elections, including 1992, 2004, 2012, and 2020.
The 2024 results, according to Gallup Deputy Director Mary Claire Evans, most closely resemble 1992—another year when voters turned their backs on an incumbent president.
In 1992, just 38% of Americans felt they were better off, and Bill Clinton capitalized on that dissatisfaction, winning the presidency.
Similar frustration is brewing today, but this time, it’s directed at the Biden-Harris administration.
Even more concerning for Biden and Harris is the stark contrast with 2020. Back then, 55% of voters told Gallup they were better off, yet despite this, Trump still lost his reelection bid.
Evans attributes this discrepancy to a sharp divide in how Republicans and Democrats perceive their situation.
Meanwhile, as the economy remains a central issue for voters, a recent report by CatholicVote aligns with these gloomy sentiments.
Economists EJ Antoni and Peter St Onge argue that “after adjusting government statistics to more accurately measure inflation, it became clear that the country has been in a recession for the past two years under the Biden-Harris administration.”
In their analysis, the economists suggest that the public’s view of the economy is in line with reality, despite the administration’s attempts to paint a rosier picture.
As Antoni bluntly put it on X: “You feel worse off today than 4 years ago b/c you are.”
Stay tuned to Prudent Politics.
