Jerome Powell has the lowest level of public trust among Fed chiefs

The level of public confidence in the leadership exercised by Jerome Powell in the Federal Reserve has fallen rapidly, according to a new survey. It is now at or below its predecessors as the central bank wages its war on inflation.

A Gallup poll released Tuesday shows that 36% of American adults say they trust”a lot” either “quite” that the chairman of the Federal Reserve would do or recommend the right thing for the economy.

That’s down from Janet Yellen’s 37% during her first year at the Fed in 2014, though the difference is within the poll’s margin of error of +-4 percentage points, and is the lowest level on record since Gallup began monitoring public confidence in central banking in 2001. Former Chairman Ben Bernanke’s lowest point was in 2012 at 39%.

Confidence in the Fed generally follows in the footsteps of the health of the economy. In April 2020, just a month after the start of the COVID-19 shutdowns, confidence in Powell was at 58%, the highest approval of any Fed chair since Alan Greenspan in 2004.

But as inflation rose and the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates as a result, Powell’s approval ratings fell sharply.

Fed perceptions are also influenced by politics. Powell happened to Yellen in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump. He enjoys the confidence of 60% of Democrats but only 21% of Republicans. When Trump was president, Republicans’ confidence in Powell it outperformed Democrats by an average of 14 percentage points.

In fact, trust in Powell is comparable to that of political actors.

President Joe Biden enjoys the confidence of 35% of Americans in the economy, the lowest of any president since George W. Bush’s 34% during the 2008 financial crisis.

Yellennow Secretary of the Treasury of Bidenis at 37%, the lowest level in that role since Jacob Lew’s 20% in 2014.

About 38% of Americans trust congressional Republicans on the economy, compared to 34% of congressional Democrats.