Poll: Economy Still Top Priority, While Inflation Worries Rise and Covid Fears Fade

The U.S. economy is the top priority for Americans, with inflation worries rising and pandemic-related fears waning, a poll released Monday showed.

Sixty-eight percent of Americans mention the economy in some way when asked an open-ended question about the top five priorities for the government to work on in 2022, according to a year-end poll taken by the Associated Press. Just 37 percent cited the virus, down from 53 percent a year earlier.

Mentions of inflation are up to 14 percent from one percent a year ago. Mentions of the cost of living jumped to 24 percent from 12 percent last year.

The AP reports:

Heading into a critical midterm election year, the top political concerns of Americans are shifting in ways that suggest Democrats face considerable challenges to maintaining their control of Congress.

A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that management of the coronavirus pandemic, once an issue that strongly favored President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, is beginning to recede in the minds of Americans. COVID-19 is increasingly overshadowed by concerns about the economy and personal finances — particularly inflation — which are topics that could lift Republicans.

No wonder Joe Biden is struggling to describe the widespread impression that he and his party are unconcerned with inflation as “malarkey,”

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