The White House’s efforts to promote “Bidenomics”, and a slight improvement in inflation have led to a modest increase in President Joe Biden’s approval ratings. However, despite this, a majority of respondents in the CNBC All-America Economic Survey disapproves of Biden’s handling of the economic situation.

The survey found that Republicans have a double-digit lead on the issues of inflation and employment that Americans feel are most important to their economy. Higher interest rates also begin to affect Americans’ wallets.

The approval rating of the president on economic issues has increased by 3 points since April’s survey, while disapproval is down 4 points. Now, 37% approve and 58% are disapproving. It has risen from a negative 34 to a net-negative 21 points. The gains were driven by double-digit increases in approval among Democrats, as well as men and retirees.

The survey revealed that Americans still have a depressed view of the economy. The percentage of Americans who say the economy is good or excellent rose by 6 points, to a still low 20%. The percentage of Americans who said the economy was just fair or bad declined by 6 points, to 79%. Just 24% of respondents believe the economy will improve over the next 12 months, which is a low number for a survey but an increase of 6 points from April. The percentage who expect the economy to worsen also fell by 10 points.

Jay Campbell, a partner at Hart Research and the Democratic pollster of the survey, said that he believes the improvement is a combination of messaging, as well as people starting to legitimately believe the economy has improved. Campbell warned that the data shows Americans only believe “things have gotten a little better than they used to” and it is not yet clear if this is a trend.

The survey makes little sense, and the White House shouldn’t celebrate it. The President’s overall approval rate remains unchanged since the previous survey at 39%, with 55% disapproving. This marks only a 5-point increase in his net negative rating over the last year.

The survey was conducted on 1,000 adults between July 12-16. It has an error margin of +/-3.1%.

No. The first issue is inflation

The event took place as the White House continued to promote President Obama’s economic record, and the unemployment rate remained near its all-time lowest. The inflation rate, which was nearly 9% before, is now around 3%, but it remains one point higher than levels prior to the Covid pandemic. Perhaps more importantly, prices are not down so Americans still pay more than before for goods and service.

Inflation was rated as the No. 30 % of respondents ranked inflation as their No. This is more than twice as many respondents as any other area of concern. These include threats to democracy and immigration, border security, crime, health care, and criminality.

Americans often believe that Republicans have better policies to deal with the most important economic issues than Democrats. When asked which party will do a better work on the economy, inflation, and improving the respondent’s personal financial status, Republicans are ahead by double digits. When it comes to keeping energy prices down and creating jobs, they lead by a single digit.

“These are broad and important aspects of economic confidence. The fact that the Republicans are leading by double digits… helps explain and support the shortcomings of Biden in these areas and the economy as a whole,” said Micah Roberts. He is a partner at Public Opinion Strategies and was the Republican pollster.

Campbell said, “This set of results is tough for Democrats right now. This shows how hard Biden and Democrats will have to work to prove that they can run the economy better in the future. It’s hard to argue when attitudes are slightly improved but still not very positive when it comes the economy.

Interest rates are on the rise

The Democrats led by double-digits in terms of which party was better at lowering the cost of housing and health care.

Republicans tended to be more successful on economic matters because they gave themselves high marks. Democrats, however, were less enthused about their own party. In the case of inflation, for example, 81% believe that their party is better able to handle it than other parties. Only 57% Democrats believe that is true for their party.

According to the survey, Americans feel the impact of higher interest rates on their finances and spend differently. A majority of Americans are saying that higher interest rates have made them less likely to purchase a house, car, or home equity line. 31 percent of Americans say that they are more likely than not to pay their credit card debt.

In response to the higher mortgage rates, 43 percent of Americans have delayed or avoided buying a house, bought a cheaper home, or rented. Around 1/10 of Americans have said they turned down a new job because it required a move. The survey shows that higher rates are felt more by the poor, than the upper classes, by younger Americans, than older Americans, and in the South, than the Northeast.

There was some good news in housing: 44% believe that their home prices will rise in the coming year. This is up from 35% the previous quarter, and back to the average levels prior to the pandemic. These numbers confirm other data which suggests that the housing market has bottomed out.

The stock market has also seen a bit of optimism return. 33% of respondents said that now is a great time to invest, up from just 24% of the April poll. With 46% of respondents saying that now is a bad time for investing, this negative outlook on equity remains in stark contrast with the period before the pandemic, when Americans believed the time was right to invest.