#Americans hammer Biden over inflation, the economy

A majority of Americans disapprove of how President Biden is handling the economic recovery, inflation, immigration and crime — with his only positive numbers coming from his response to the coronavirus pandemic and his infrastructure plan, according to a poll released Sunday.​

Sixty-nine percent of Americans give Biden a thumbs down on his handling of inflation with only 28 percent approving, while ​57 percent disapprove of how he has guided the economic recovery, an ABC News/Ipsos poll shows. 

Biden also gets poor marks for his handling of gun violence (66 percent disapprove, 32 percent approve), crime (61 percent disapprove, 36 percent approve), and immigration (63 percent disapprove, 34 percent approve).

The president, whose job approval ratings have been tanking since August, gets higher marks for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic (53 percent approve, 45 percent disapprove), and rebuilding the US with his infrastructure plan (53 percent approve, 43 percent disapprove).

But his approval rating for the coronavirus is the lowest since he took office in January, falling from 69 percent to 53 percent. 

While the poll shows Biden struggling with his administration’s domestic challenges, it also found that Americans are skeptical of his response to the Russian troop buildup on the Ukrainian border.

The poll shows that 55 percent disapprove of how he’s handling relations with Russia (42 percent approve), and only 38 percent say they trust Biden to negotiate with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. 

Biden and Putin held a more than two hour virtual summit on Ukraine last week as the US and Western nations warn the Kremlin of the devastating consequences for Moscow if it invades. 

Asked about mask mandates in their states, most – 38 percent – say the rules should stay the same, while 34 percent say they should be stricter and 27 percent opt for less strict. 

A slight majority (51 percent) support federal regulations requiring businesses with more than 100 employees mandate employees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing, while 47 percent oppose such rules. 

The poll surveyed 524 people between Dec. 10-11.

It has a plus/minus 5.0 percentage points margin of error.