Report: Americans Focused on the Economy Heading into the 2022 Elections

The October 2022 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,175 registered voters in the United States about the 2022 elections, President Biden, the war between Russia and Ukraine, student loan debt relief, and more.

The 2022 Elections

Americans are intensely focused on the state of the economy as their number one issue heading into the 2022 midterm elections. Well over a majority of voters (58%) list the economy, jobs, and inflation as one of their top concerns when thinking about who they will vote for in November. This mirrors Civiqs’ daily tracking polls, which indicate that 46% of Americans rate the national economy as “very bad” right now, and 64% believe that the economy is still getting worse.

There are significant differences between the priorities of Republican voters and Democratic voters. Among Republicans, the economy (chosen by 83%) and immigration (chosen by 60%) dominate the issues on their minds. The most-frequently selected issue for Democrats is abortion (52%), followed by concerns related to fair elections and democracy (43%), with the economy coming in third (38%).

Most voters expect that the Republican Party will take control of both chambers of Congress in November. In the election for the House of Representatives, 52% of voters expect the Republicans to win a majority, while 30% of voters think the Democrats will retain control. There is more uncertainty surrounding the Senate elections, where 43% of voters think that the Republicans will take control and 35% believe that the Democrats will win.

Voters are divided over the potential impact of Republicans taking control of the United States House and Senate. While 48% believe that a Republican takeover of Congress will improve their lives, 46% believe that this would make their lives worse, with 6% unsure.

Views of President Biden

Americans remain unhappy with how Joe Biden is handling his job as president. Over the last year, 44% of voters say that their opinion of Biden has gotten worse, and 34% say their opinion is unchanged. There are 22% who say that their opinion of Biden has improved: these are primarily older Democrats, aged 50 and up. Among these voters, half say their opinion of Biden has gotten better. Only 34% of Democrats aged 18-34 and 37% of Democrats aged 35-49 have a better opinion of Biden compared to last year.

Thinking back to the start of President Biden’s term in office, 40% of voters currently say that the Biden administration has done something that they feel has benefitted them personally. This is up from 37% in an August 2021 survey. However, 54% now say that the Biden administration has taken an action that has harmed them personally; a nine percentage point increase from the 45% saying the same in August 2021.

An increasing share of voters are giving President Biden credit for following through on his campaign promises. In April 2022, 60% of Americans felt that President Biden made a lot of promises during his campaign that he had not yet delivered on. Six months later, this has fallen to 48%. Among Democrats aged 18-34, the percent saying that Biden has failed to deliver on his campaign promises decreased from 67% in April 2022 to 37% now.

The Russia-Ukraine War

Americans overwhelmingly believe that it is best for the security of the United States for Ukraine to win its war with Russia. Fully 54% of all voters, including 80% of Democrats, say that it is very important for Ukraine to win the war. Another 17% of voters say that it is better for Ukraine to win, even if those voters do not rate it as “very” important. Only 4% of Americans feel that it would be better for Russia to win the war. There are 18% of voters who think that it makes no difference to the U.S. who wins the war; these are mostly Republicans (24%), Independents (25%), and younger voters aged 18-34 (26%).

A majority of voters believe that the United States should be maintaining (25%) or expanding (28%) the amount of resources and weapons that it is sending to Ukraine in its war with Russia. Older Democrats are the most committed to U.S. assistance to Ukraine, with 60% of Democrats aged over 65, and 50% of Democrats aged 50-64, wanting the United States to send more support to Ukraine.

Republicans, despite their preference for Ukraine to win the war (61%), think that the U.S. should be sending fewer resources to Ukraine. Half of Republicans (50%) would reduce support for Ukraine, 16% would maintain current levels of support, and only 14% of Republicans want to increase U.S. involvement in the war.

_Civiqs surveyed 1,175 registered voters in the United States from October 15-18, 2022. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.08. The survey has a margin of error of ±3.0% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect. _