Lawrence Times

Pennsylvania residents are losing confidence in the Biden Administration as the country is in the grip of record levels of inflation.

According to the New York Times, GDP figures show that the nation has made a near full economic recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Joe Biden recently announced the rebuilding of the American economy “with the fastest economic growth in nearly four decades, along with the greatest year of job growth in American history.”

However, that recovery has been reduced by soaring levels of inflation Even though wage increases are more prevalent, workers are finding their larger paychecks aren’t benefiting them any more than their previous smaller ones.

In the 2020 election, the state of Pennsylvania favored Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as its presidential pair, according to Politico, but that support has been diminishing across the country.

“There was a lot of optimism a year ago," Harvard economist Karen Dynan told the New York Times. "We’d gotten the vaccines faster than we’d thought, and we thought our lives were going to be able to go back to normal, and people just expected the economy to come along with that. And maybe that was a little naïve.”

The New York Times reports that a recent Gallup survey reflects a low economic confidence among Americans. When asked, 67% said the economy was getting worse, while only 29% believed it was improving.

In its monthly survey of national trends related to the American political environment, McLaughlin & Associates seeks insight to voters’ outlook on and opinion related to a number of current topics. The January 2022 survey was conducted from Jan. 13-18 and polled 1,000 likely general election voters.

In light of poor economic conditions, Americans’ opinion of political leaders have shifted since the 2020 election. A national poll distributed by McLaughlin & Associates in January 2022 surveyed Americans’ outlook on the current leaders of the Biden Administration. On average, 57% believe Joe Biden is an unfavorable leader, while 42% say he is favorable. By the same token, 56% of people believe Kamala Harris is unfavorable, while 39% say she is favorable. Opinions of Nancy Pelosi followed a similar pattern, as 61% say she is unfavorable and 33% say she is favorable.

According to consumer expectations data produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in December 2021, 26.3% of consumers expect to be financially worse off in December 2022. Similar data from the end of 2019 revealed only 9.9% of consumers felt this way. Inflation expectations tracked by the same survey have surged as well.

Inflation continues to affect rising prices at the gas pump. According to current AAA reports, there has been a 5% increase in average gas prices over the past moth nationally. The current national average is $3.49 per gallon for regular gas, while a month ago, the average was $3.31 per gallon.

According to AAA's state gas price averages, the state of Pennsylvania is paying an average of $3.68 per gallon of regular gas and $4.21 per gallon of diesel.