Kerby Anderson

Americans seem to be of two minds when polled about the current administration and the future of this country. For example, a Harvard/Harris poll reported a very high approval rating (59%) for President Biden and his administration. On the other hand, if you dig into the specifics you find that Americans are very concerned about some of the administration policies and the direction of this nation. Let’s look at two issues that both start with the letter “I.” That would be immigration and inflation. The administration has tried to downplay and even ignore these issues, and the mainstream media have been willing to ignore these issues. But the American people have some significant concerns. Eight out of ten voters said that illegal immigration is either a very serious (43%) or a somewhat serious (37%) issue. Also, a large majority correctly answered that the number of monthly immigrant crossings has increased since Biden took office. It is also worth noting that voters significantly underestimated the number of new illegal immigrants coming into the country. This underestimate is probably due to the lack of media coverage of the crisis at the border. Two-thirds (68%) believe that the Biden Administration executive orders on immigration actually encourage illegal immigrants. And a majority (55%) also believe that the current administration should have left the Trump Administration policies in place. When voters were asked about inflation, they were more concerned about it than the current administration. A significant majority (85%) said they were either very concerned (45%) or somewhat concerned (45%) about inflation. They may not understand all the economic issues, but they can see the prices of everything increasing even while being assured there isn’t a problem. Americans may be of two minds. They are willing to give a high approval rating but also expect something to be done with some of these important issues.