A new Associated Press-NORC poll released Friday revealed the major concerns for a majority of Americans are inflation and rising fuel prices, not social issues such as guns.
Guns only seem to be a big issue with identified Democrats, perhaps because it distracts them from thinking about the economy and fuel prices under Joe Biden and a Democrat majority on Capitol Hill.
Republicans and Independents are on a different wavelength. Their priorities are closely associated with their pocketbooks. Food, other staples and fuel are their big concerns by a wide margin, perhaps because those costs are eroding savings accounts and making it harder to pay the bills.
As noted in a release by the AP and NORC, “Dissatisfaction with the country’s economy has been growing, as inflation continues to rise, interest rates increase, and stocks enter a bear market. Inflation and gas prices top the list of Americans’ priorities for the government to address in the next year…”
With the midterm elections only four months away, these issues are likely to guide the discussion as campaign season kicks into high gear.
“The poll found that 40% of Americans see the spike in gas prices as the biggest concern for our country, a rise of 26% since December,” Fox News reported, “and 33% of the voters believe gas and energy prices are the top issue, rising 23% since the winter.”
But for Republicans and Independents, gun issues are only important to 12 percent of GOP voters and 23 percent of Independents. Forty-five percent of Democrats, on the other hand, point to guns as a top priority.
The AP/NORC report said gun issues have replaced COVID-19 as the top issue among Democrats. In the aftermath of last month’s gun rights ruling by the Supreme Court, “high prices continue to trump gun laws” as issues of major import among the population in general, according to Fox.
While that may change in the aftermath of Buffalo, Uvalde and Highland Park, so long as fuel and food prices, the shaky stock market—which affects retirement accounts—and general inflation offer daily reminders about the economy under Biden, guns may gradually slip off the radar through Nov. 8.
Rasmussen’s Daily Presidential Tracking poll for Friday “shows that 37% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Biden’s job performance. Sixty-one percent (61%) disapprove.”
It breaks even worse for Biden, however when considering the disparity between the 16 percent who “strongly approve” of the job he is doing, while 48 percent—a staggering three times as many people—say they “strongly disapprove.”
This gives Biden a Presidential Approval Index rating of -32, Rasmussen said.
