A large majority of registered voters reject President Joe Biden's repeated claims that the United States is not in a recession, according to an NBC poll released Sunday.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents told Hart Research Associated/Public Opinion Strategies, which conducted the poll for NBC, that the U.S. economy has fallen into a recession. The finding comes after Biden has insisted that the country is not in a recession, which most sources define as two consecutive quarters of GDP drops. The Commerce Department reported last month that the GDP dropped for two consecutive quarters.
Biden has for months attempted to paint a rosy picture of the economy ahead of the November midterms. On the same day the Commerce Department reported the GDP drop, Biden said the United States is "on the right path." The president later took a victory lap because the inflation rate did not increase in July, even though the annualized inflation rate remained at 40-year highs.
NBC released the poll on the same day that Ford announced it will eliminate 3,000 jobs amid recession fears.
Voters don't agree with Biden's rosy rhetoric, the NBC poll found. Nearly three-quarters of respondents—74 percent—said the United States is "on the wrong track." A record 58 percent said "America's best years may already be behind us." The poll found Biden's approval rating mired in the low 40s, in line with previous NBC polls.
The poll also found that voters support Republicans over Democrats, 47 percent to 45 percent, when asked which party they want to take control of Congress. A plurality of respondents said they want Congress either controlled by Republicans or leaning Republican, with 38 percent saying they want a "strongly Republican-controlled Congress."