Americans’ confidence in the economic management of Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell fell to the lowest level among recent Fed chiefs, according to a Gallup poll conducted last month.
Only 36% of those surveyed have “a lot” or “quite a bit” of confidence in Powell. This is the lowest level of any Fed chair since Gallup began the annual poll in 2001, when Alan Greenspan was in charge.
The previous low was 37% for Janet Yellen, now Treasury secretary, during her first year at the helm of the central bank in 2014.
Powell’s confidence ratings among the public have fallen more than 20 percentage points since 2020, when in the early days of the pandemic people had more confidence in him than in any Fed chairman since Greenspan in 2004.
The drop has occurred in parallel to a rise in inflation, which Powell and other economic leaders were slow to recognize and address.
Initially viewing inflation as a “transitory” problem that would resolve itself without the need for a major Fed response, Powell orchestrated the fastest interest rate hike in any country in the past year. 40 years, while inflation remains well above the central bank’s target level of 2 percent.
Powell, however, was not the only one who saw the American public lose faith in his abilities.
Confidence in the economic leadership of President Joe Biden fell to the lowest level of his term, with 35%, compared to 40% last year and 57% in 2021, shortly after his inauguration.
