Joe Biden has repeatedly blamed President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for the soaring rate of inflation in the U.S., but Americans aren’t buying the White House’s excuses, according to polling.
Biden again cited “Putin’s price hike” in his Wednesday address on April’s consumer price index report, which showed an 8.3 percent rise in the 12 months ending in April, after hitting 8.5 percent in March. Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating remains low among voters, especially when it comes to how he is handling the economy.
A new poll published Monday found that Biden’s approval rating fell again this month, nearly plunging to his previous record low by a single percentage point. The survey from Investors Business Daily/TIPP found that only 39 percent of U.S. adults approve of the president’s performance, while 47 percent disapproved. Website FiveThirtyEight showed him with a 41.7 approval rating as of Wednesday.
While there was a stark partisan divide in the IBD/TIPP poll’s results, Biden notably struggled to gain ground among independent voters, with 58 percent disapproving of his job as president.
Americans appear to be increasingly concerned about the president’s handling of the economy. Almost half of those surveyed in the poll disapproved, while only 29 percent approved. By comparison, fewer voters disapproved of Biden’s job on the economy in April, when 44 percent disapproved and 33 percent approved.
As inflation continues to surge—and Republicans pounce on the issue for leverage in the 2022 midterm elections—Biden has continued to blame Russia’s leader for rising costs.