Poll Shows Americans Are Better Off Now than in 2016, Former Vice President Biden Disagrees
A recent Gallup Poll revealed that 56% of Americans believe that they are better off now than they were in 2016, and only 32% said they were worse off. Vice President Joe Biden, who served during Barack Obama’s administration four years ago, dismissed the assessment.
When asked about the poll during a recent interview with a Cincinnati radio station, Vice President Biden responded, “Well if they think that, they probably shouldn’t.”
“They think 54% of the American people believe they’re better off economically today than they were under our administration? Well, their memory is not very good, quite frankly,” Biden said. “And in addition to that, we have a president who doesn’t share the values of most Americans. He’s not very honest with people. He’s flouting the conventions relative to public safety in terms of even now- not wearing a mask, a guy who has been a super spreader. But look, whatever they believe they should go out and vote. People should vote. Period.”
President Donald Trump tweeted about the result, saying, “Highest number on satisfaction yet recorded, by far…And it will only get better!!! VOTE.”
The poll is part of a series that Gallup started when President Ronald Reagan asked Americans during his 1980 campaign, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago.” According to Gallup, “This question has served as a key standard that sitting presidents running for reelection have been held to.”
In 2012, during Obama’s reelection campaign, the poll was again conducted by Gallup and revealed that only 45% of Americans believed that they were better off than they were in 2008. In 2004, only 47% of Americans believed that life was better than it was in 2000. This poll has never risen above 50% in the thirty plus years it has been taken, until this year.
When questioned about whether the candidates had the “personality and leadership qualities that a president should have,” 49% of registered voters believed Biden had these qualities and 44% believed that current President Donald Trump has them.
Interestingly, 49% of Americans agreed with Donald Trump on the issues, but only 46% agreed with Biden.
Though most of the polls across the country have Biden soundly beating Trump in November, these results raise some questions about the real feeling of the country.
Perhaps this discrepancy can be solved with cookies.
A bakery in Pennsylvania has its own poll, which has accurately predicted the last three elections. Lochel’s Bakery in Hatboro makes cookies that have the name and party color of each candidate, and they count how many of each sell.
“If the winner was chosen today, from our poll, Donald Trump would blow it out of the water,” bakery owner Kathleen Lochel said.
Photo is from Shutterstock.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brittany Raymer serves as a policy analyst at Focus on the Family, researching and writing about abortion, assisted suicide, bioethics and a variety of other issues involving the sanctity of human life and broader social issues. She regularly contributes articles to The Daily Citizen and has written op-eds published in The Christian Post and The Washington Examiner. Previously, Raymer worked at Samaritan’s Purse in several roles involving research, social media and web content management. While there, she also contributed research for congressional testimonies and assisted with the Ebola crisis response. Raymer earned a bachelor of arts in history at Seattle Pacific University and completed a master’s degree in history at Liberty University in Virginia. She lives in Colorado Springs with her beloved Yorkie-Poo, Pippa.