Monday’s Morning Jolt newsletter discussed how Americans feel about the economy, and how the administration’s cheerleading and boasts about “Bidenomics” are largely falling on deaf ears. Even if the year-over-year inflation rate has tumbled from a four-decade high to three percent, that doesn’t mean that Americans feel like things are affordable again.

This morning, CNN unveiled the results of a new poll, conducted throughout the month of July and – surprise! – Americans continue to feel deeply pessimistic about the economy and say they’re falling behind.

Despite months of increasingly positive economic indicators, the American public remains negative about the state of the nation’s economy, with 51 percent saying they think the economy is still in a downturn and getting worse, according to a new CNN poll.

This consistent pessimism, coupled with a stagnant and negative approval rating for President Joe Biden, could portend challenges for his attempt to sell voters on the success of his domestic agenda as a part of his 2024 reelection bid.

Biden’s overall approval rating stands at 41 percent in the new poll, about on par with where it’s been since the spring. His approval drops to 37 percent when Americans assess his handling of the economy and further still to 30 percent for his handling of inflation. Among political independents, a scant 26 percent approve of his handling of inflation.

Nor does this survey offer much supporting evidence for the Democrats’ preferred argument that Americans feel like they’re doing fine themselves, but feel gloomy about the overall economy because of skewed negative news coverage. No, a solid majority say they have changed their buying habits because of high prices.

Negative personal impacts due to the economy remain common and many still say that economic conditions are changing their spending patterns. Although inflation has begun to ease over the past few months, about seven in 10 say that they have changed the groceries they buy in order to stay within budget (71 percent now, same as in December) and have cut back on spending on extras and entertainment in order to afford necessities (70 percent now, 71 percent in December). About half in the new poll say they have cut back significantly on how much they drive (48 percent), largely unchanged since December despite shifting gas prices, and that they have changed or canceled plans to travel this summer (50 percent). A little over a third say they have had difficulty finding affordable housing (37 percent).

In fact, it is not stretching it to declare that the economy is, far and away, the top issue on Americans’ minds right now.

When asked which issue is the most important facing the country today, economic concerns continue to dominate, with 44 percent citing an economy-related issue such as the cost of living or inflation (19 percent); the economy generally (16 percent); or poverty, finances and money (3 percent). No other single issue was named by more than 10 percent of Americans.

The CNN survey reaffirms what I’ve been arguing the past few weeks – that the economy is still a huge issue in people’s lives, that people still feel personally a tight squeeze caused by high inflation, and a presidential candidate would be a fool to not spend a lot of time focusing on this issue and how their policies will help bring down the cost of living. This doesn’t mean drop or ignore all other issues. But if you’re a Republican presidential candidate, maybe instead of micro-targeting some small demographic of Iowans, Granite staters and South Carolinians, try speaking to the concerns of a large majority of the country and see how that works.