Americans say inflation and the economy are their top concerns

The COVID-19 pandemic is fading as a top concern of voters and being replaced by the economy and rising inflation, a troubling sign for President Joe Biden and Democrats heading into the midterm elections.

Just 12% of adults rated health issues like the coronavirus as a top national priority, down from 20% in February, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found for October. 

Meantime, two-thirds of the country, including the majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents, say that ‘inflation is a very big concern for me.’

The job market is also being closed watched as the poll found that 73% of adults want political leaders to focus on jobs and economic growth.

Democrats, meanwhile, are showing signs of panic and asking Biden to deal with this quality of life issues affecting voters. 

‘We were so willing to take seriously a global pandemic, but we’re not willing to say, ‘Yeah, inflation is a problem, and supply chain is a problem, and we don’t have enough workers in our work force,’ Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia told The New York Times. ‘We gloss over that and only like to admit to problems in spaces we dominate.’

She also said Biden needs to reminder why voters put him in the Oval Office.  

‘Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,’ she said, referring to the sweeping net of social programs Biden is seeking to make into law. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is fading as a top concern of voters and being replaced by the economy and rising inflation, a troubling sign for President Joe Biden

Inflation in the United States has jumped to a three-decade high while wages haven’t kept pace and prices for food, gas and rent are rising â€" all putting a growing economic burden on households.  

Biden and his administration has argued that as the pandemic fades, the supply chain bottlenecks to unsnarl, more people will return to the workforce, the economy will strengthen and inflation will begin to ease.

The president also touts his Build Back Better package, which he argues multiple Nobel Prize winning economists say would reduce inflation. 

But his signature package of social safety net programs has yet to pass Congress and his aides concede that Americans would not see its benefits until next year. Moderate Democrats have raised concerned about its overall price tag, which Biden has cut nearly in half to $1.75 trillion as he tries to get it through the legislative branch. 

Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from New York, told the Times she fears that Biden’s message isn’t resontating with voters. 

‘I don’t understand some of my more progressive colleagues saying last night now shows us that what we need to do is get both of these bills done and shove even more progressive stuff in,’ she said. ‘What we’re talking about is not resonating with voters.’ 

And voters are starting to show their impatience. 

On Tuesday, Virginia voters elected a Republican, Glenn Youngkin, as governor, in a state Biden carried by 10 points last year. And, in New Jersey, incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy barely held on for a second term in a state Biden carried by 16 points and where Democrats have a 1 million voter registeration advantage. 

The president offered a litnany of excuses in a press conference on Wednesday, including the fact that his Build Back Better agenda hasn’t passed Congress and Donald Trump supporters.

‘Look, I just think people are at a point, and it is understandable, where there’s a whole lot of confusion. Everything from are you ever going to get COVID under control or are my kids going to be in school, are they going to be able to stay in school to whether or not I’m going to get a tax break that allows me to be able to pay for the needs of my kids and my family,’ he said.

‘People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things â€" from COVID to school to jobs to a whole range of things, and the cost of a gallon of gasoline,’ the president said.

Thursday’s Reuters/Ipsos poll shows the political landscape is dramatically changing for Biden, who came into office with a promise to end the COVID pandemic and bring back stability after the chaos of the Trump years.

Last November, a majority of voters â€" 61% â€" said COVID-19 was ‘an important factor’ in determining their choice for president, and those voters backed Biden with 52% of the vote. And, in the last election, only 33% rated the economy a top concern.

‘Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,’ Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia told New York Times of Biden

Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from New York, told the Times she fears that Biden’s message isn’t clicking: ‘What we’re talking about is not resonating with voters’

Additionally the president’s approval rating has been on the decline â€" another worriesome sign. 

Biden entered office with the approval of 55% of the country but has seen his popularity decline: 42% of adults say they approve of Biden’s job performance in an NBC News poll out Monday. 

That poll also found 71% say the country is headed in the wrong direction â€" a sign of trouble ahead for the political party in power.  The right track/wrong track question has proven a reliable forecaster of voter attitudes headed into the voting booth. 

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted onlinefrom Oct. 18-22 and gathered responses from 4,430 adults including 2,001 Democrats, 1,591 Republicans and 465 independents. The margin of error is between 2 and 5 percentage points. 

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