Silver State Times

In Nevada, sky-high gas prices and an 8.6% inflation rate continue to be a recipe for bad news for the Biden administration.

The latest ABC News/Ipsos poll found that President Joe Biden’s approval rating from the American public on several key issues—such as economic recovery, inflation and gas prices—remains underwater, as a majority of Americans disapprove of the president's performance.

Ipsos recently reported that only 37% of Americans currently approve of Biden’s handling of the economic recovery. This rating is in line with views from the past few months, but it represents a 3% decline from April, when the approval rating was 40%. It also represents a 16-percentage point decline from July 2021, when the approval rating was 53%.

"While Biden’s standing on these issues remains largely unchanged from the last time these questions were asked in April, this poll also illustrates that the economy is poised to be an extremely important factor in the midterm elections this November," the Ipsos report said. 

Approximately one quarter of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of both inflation (28%) and gas prices (27%), the report said. Even among Democrats, approval is not high, as left-wing voters gave Biden a 56% approval rating on his handling of inflation and 51% approval concerning gas prices.

The ABC/Ipsos poll also found that among Americans who reported to be very enthusiastic to vote in November, 66% said the economy will be extremely important in their voting, while 62% said the same about inflation. Less than 30% said the coronavirus pandemic will be extremely important in their voting, indicating the economy has far outpaced pandemic issues when it comes to Americans' concerns

The ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted June 3-4, 2022, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel. It was based on a nationally representative probability sample of 542 adults 18 years of age or older.

On June 10, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending with May 2022. The data showed an 8.6% all items annual increase, which represents a 0.3% climb from last month and a new four-decade high. The largest contributors were increases in the indexes for gasoline, food and shelter.

After dropping in April, the index for gasoline climbed 4.1% in May, and it has risen 48.7% in the last 12 months; the BLS data said. During the month of April, the shelter index increased 0.6%, the largest monthly increase since March 2004. The food index also rose 1.2% in May, while the food at home index increased 1.4%.

Monday's $5.01 national average price per gallon of gas represented "an all-time high never seen since AAA began collecting pricing data in 2000," an American Automobile Association (AAA) news release said this week.

The current average price for gas in Nevada is $5.67 per gallon, the second-highest in the country, AAA data said.