Americans Haven’t Been This Pessimistic About The Economy Since The Housing Crisis

Pessimism about the economy has reached its highest point since 2008, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday, with an overwhelming majority of Americans believing the economy is getting worse.

Only 12% of Americans believe the economy is improving, ABC reported, with 69% believing the economy is getting worse and 18% saying things would stay the same. The figures represent Americans’ worst collective outlook on the economy since the middle of the 2008 housing crisis, when 82% of Americans believed the economy was getting worse.

President Joe Biden received low marks for his handling of the economy, with 62% disapproving, and inflation, where he is receiving a 69% disapproval rating. Americans’ approval of Biden’s handling of gas prices increased to 34% from a mark of 27% in a June poll.

The economy contracted by 0.9% in the second quarter of 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, following a 1.4% decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter. Two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage is colloquially considered the definition of a recession, according to Investopedia.

Republicans were showing more enthusiasm to vote than Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, with 75% saying they were at least somewhat enthusiastic compared to 68% of Democrats and 49% of independents, according to the ABC poll of 665 adults, which had a 4.2% margin of error.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.