More than 90% are worried about inflation: Polls shows majority think economy will get worse

With just three weeks until the midterm elections, 90 percent of Americans expressed concern about the state of the US economy — and 80 percent say inflation will play a role in how they vote in November.

Nearly 10 percent more respondents say they trust Republicans more than Democrats to tackle congressional inflation by a 46-37 percent margin, according to a survey. Politico/Morning Consult poll released on Wednesday.

The majority of voters in the October 14-16 poll say they trust Republicans in Congress more to tackle issues like jobs and the economy. When it comes to the economy in general, 46 percent of respondents say they trust the GOP, while 45 percent said they believe Republicans can handle the job recovery well.

The poll is yet another poor result for Democrats as Republicans battle for majority in the House and Senate amid a 40-year high-inflation economic crisis and a looming recession.

The 2005 Americans surveyed are not optimistic: 53 percent say they think the economy will only get worse in the coming year.

Seventy-one percent of Republicans think the economy will deteriorate, while only 33 percent of Democrats think the same. A majority of independent votes — 56 percent — say it is likely to worsen over the next year.

By a margin of nearly 10 percent, Americans trust Republicans in Congress more to address economic issues — such as inflation and jobs — compared to Democrats

For the 38th consecutive week, the majority of voters said the country is heading in the wrong direction – the most recent poll found that 70 percent of respondents think so.

However, when they get a generic vote, the two parties are still fairly evenly split. Republicans have 44 percent compared to 45 percent of Democrats. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, meaning it’s still a matter of which side comes out on top overall.

Only 4 percent of respondents said the economy and inflation would not play a role in their vote in the 2022 midterm elections.

When asked which points would be important when voting this year, inflation was the main point.

Crime was 16 percent behind in second place and jobs and access to abortion were in third place, with 59 percent of respondents claiming the issue would affect their vote.

Immigration is still on the list, with 55 percent of Americans claiming the issue will affect how they vote on Nov. 8.

Of the more than 90 percent who say they are concerned about inflation, a large majority of 71 percent say they are “very concerned” about the issue, which hit record levels this year and shows no sign of flowing.

This is a 5 percent increase from the August poll.

When asked about the “top priority” in deciding who to vote for in November, 42 percent of respondents said economic issues topped the list, including inflation, gas prices, jobs, taxes and unemployment.

President Joe Biden is walking the campaign trail this month in an effort to boost Democrats in some battlefield districts.

It’s unclear how much positive influence the president will have with his approval rating still underwater: 54 percent of respondents disapprove of how he does his job and 44 percent approve of it.

Numbers from various polls, averaged by FiveThirtyEight, show Biden’s approval hovering around 40.