When Biden Left Office, Voters Were Happier With the U.S. Economy Than Right Now

Publication Date: 10/21/2026 10:48 AM CST

When Biden Left Office, Voters Were Happier With the U.S. Economy Than Right Now

Publication: 10/21/2026 10:48 AM CST

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Just 21% of voters now say the U.S. economy is Good or Excellent. That is down 7 points from from September 1st and down 10 from a month ago. On the other hand, 48% rate it is Poor. That is up 5 points from 2 weeks ago and 9 from from a month ago. On October 28, 2024, just before President Trump was elected, 27% said the economy was Good or Excellent, while 44% said it was poor. That net is +10 in favor of Biden.

Most significantly, 49% of Mainstreet Voters* now say the economy is Poor, up 3 points from September 1st and 8 points from a month ago. Fourty-four percent (44%) of Elite or Elite Adjecent Voters agree, up 7 from 2 weeks ago and up 11 points from a month ago.

Half (50%) of voters who support policies like President Trump's say the economy is Good or Excellent. That is down 10 from September 1st. A scant 24% of Traditional GOP voters agree. As Scott Rasmussen notes, Traditional GOP voters are a big liability for Republicans in November.

On the left, over 90% of voters who support policies like those proposed by Alexandria Ocassio-Cortez or Traditional Democratic voters say the economy is Poor.

Currently, just 20% say the U.S. economy is getting better. That is up down 3 points from September 1st and down 12 from a month ago. Six-in-10 (59%) say it is getting worse. The current economic pessimism is higher than when President Biden left office.

Finally, 43% of voters say the country is in a recession right now. That is identical to what voters believed less than a week before President Trump was elected in 2024.

*Elite voters are defined as those with a postgraduate degree, make more than $150,000 annually, and live in a densely populated urban area. Elite Adjacent voters have at least one of these characteristics. Main Street voters have none of these characteristics, and make up the largest portion of voters.

This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, October 12-13, 2026. RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.