While the White House and President Biden tout post-pandemic job growth and a low unemployment rate, inflation obscures any economic gains.
However, if inflation doesn’t go down before the 2022 midterms, Democrats will have even more trouble keeping their legislative majorities.
Economic and Job Growth
The economy grew by 431,000 jobs in March, resulting in a 3.6% unemployment rate.
However, upwards of a third of Navigator Research survey participants said jobs were lost the year before, and less than three in ten enrolled voters said jobs were gained.
When Biden took office in January of 2021, unemployment was 6.4%.
The Russian ruble has already bounced back to pre-war levels.
This means that Joe Biden's sanction war — which sparked astronomic gas prices, an unprecedented surge in fertilizer prices, future food shortages, and an inflation crisis — was all for nothing. pic.twitter.com/1dJ2MMWFje
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) March 31, 2022
The White House’s repeated data is not changing public opinion on the economy, hurting Democrats in the fall.
Before the cycle, Republicans had a nearly four-point advantage over Democrats on a standard congressional ballot. Biden’s net negative 22 economic job approval rating is worse than his total net negative 13 ratings.
Per the Brookings Institution’s Douglas Dillon Chair in Corporate Governance literature, Darrell West, the White House must amplify its economic message to help Democrats in November.
Struggling For Basic Amenities
According to Bill Hoagland, the Bipartisan Policy Center Senior Vice President, a fiscal and economics specialist, voters struggle to buy food, housing, and electricity.
According to Hoagland, it would take some time and political clout for Biden and Democrats to use the Federal Trade Commission to break up monopolies in the food industry.
“I’m quite concerned about food costs, which are not easily changed,” he remarked. “Pig litter takes a long time to grow. Building a flock of laying chickens takes time.”
It has instead focused on automobile and gas prices, where Biden has some influence by bolstering microchip supply, boosting electric vehicle orders, and freeing barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during talks with domestic and international oil suppliers.
“Putin’s price rise” is how the president and his advisers talk about rising interest rates while the Federal Reserve raises them.
$5.00 Gasoline
9% Inflation
Wide open Southern Border
Americans left behind in AfghanistanJoe Biden: I did that!
— Daniel Hill (@danhill2011) April 5, 2022
During a conference this week, Jen Psaki was quizzed on the Navigator poll. In her statement, she noted she could only “convey the facts” from her podium.
Psaki then said the White House stands by its claim that people are still feeling the effects of COVID, rising costs, and the Ukrainian invasion.
“They affect emotions. We see it in consumer confidence. I can’t read every American’s mind, but I can tell you the facts.”
Republicans deny that Democrats’ problems are a message issue. They are suffering political consequences for carelessly spending American tax dollars, as per Republican National Committee spokesman Nicole Morales.
“Democrats will pay the price in November,” she predicted.
Conservatives are “stopping” economic growth, according to Democratic National Committee spokesperson Ammar Moussa.
By contrast, President Biden and Democrats are working relentlessly to reduce expenses, decrease gas prices, and reduce prescription medicine prices, Moussa added.
