New polling suggests that Democrats are in for a world of hurt in 2024. As the adage goes, “it’s the economy stupid!” — and Americans’ economic outlook is bleak indeed. The administration and their media allies have waged a concerted propaganda effort to sell “Bidenomics” as something it’s not, but it turns out the American people are not as stupid as Democrats think.
A CBS News report poll released over the weekend feigned shock that “macro stats for the U.S. economy” provided “cold comfort” for many Americans. Despite GDP growth and stock gains, the average American family does not perceive much improvement to their bottom line. The most common words used to describe the economy were “uncertain” (56 percent) and “struggling” (61 percent). In contrast, only 11 percent believed the economy was “expanding.”
These findings are unsurprising, and track with Americans’ economic outlook since politicians shut down the U.S. economy during Covid. What’s more surprising — and likely more damning for Democrats — is how Americans perceive the politics of it all. Eighty percent of Americans believe Biden’s policies are “somewhat” or a “great deal” responsible for the current state of the economy. Over half of Americans have heard little to nothing about “Bidenomics,” but for those who had, roughly half said “higher inflation” and “tax increases” come to mind. (RELATED: Gas Prices Are Quietly Creeping Back Up As Biden Admin Touts ‘Bidenomics’)
It is somewhat surprising that a majority of Americans have not heard of Bidenomics, given the push to make the nebulous economic program a campaign centerpiece. In politics, there are three types of lies — “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The campaign believes it can distort economic reality to claim a victory for Bidenomics that doesn’t in reality exist.
Biden has routinely defined his eponymous economic plan as “rooted in the recognition that the best way to grow the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up.” If this sounds like mush-mouthed nonsense, that’s because it is. The “three key pillars” of Bidenomics — “smart public investments,” “empowering and educating workers,” and “promoting competition” — are so vague that they allow Biden to take credit for virtually anything that goes right in the American economy, no matter what the cause.
For example, Vice President Kamala Harris recently took a victory lap on behalf of Bidenomics for the “new jobs created.” But this is a prime example of lying with statistics — and one certainly doesn’t need an economics degree to see why.
Over 13 million new jobs created—that’s Bidenomics. pic.twitter.com/UQPydZMLnE
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 28, 2023
Harris’ graphic compares the 13 million jobs “created” under Biden to the five million under former President Donald Trump. But, according to Trading Economics, the current employment rate is still slightly lower than it was in February 2020. Biden’s gains are merely replacing the jobs temporarily lost during Covid. In fact, the rebound occurred at a much slower rate under Biden than it did under Trump.
This is likely because another plank of Bidenomics is pumping billions into green energy boondoggles and calling it infrastructure. In total, the Inflation Reduction Act — Biden’s signature piece of legislation — devoted a whopping $369 billion to “climate investments.” That comes on top of the earlier $1.2 trillion infrastructure law which also funneled billions into left-wing causes like “climate resiliency.”
Democrats claim a victory for Bidenomics here as well, arguing counter-intuitively that greater government spending would actually bring down inflation. Now, even liberal economist Larry Summers is warning that Bidenomics is becoming “increasingly dangerous” and will make inflation worse. Yet Democrats still claim a preemptive victory over inflation. (RELATED: Experts See Red Flags Even As Biden Takes Victory Lap On Economic Growth)
Bidenomics is workiBng 📈 😎 pic.twitter.com/ErgEVutnhL
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) July 30, 2023
The problem with the administration’s inflation claims however, is that they fail to account for the year-on-year changes. Sure, the inflation rate came “down” to 4.6 percent in July 2023. But that means it is still over four percent up from the 8.5 percent inflation of July 2022.
Biden seems to think his best hope for re-election is campaigning on his economic agenda. The campaign hopes to turn voters’ (realistic) perception around by shifting the focus to Trump. In a statement released to Politico, Biden actually hit Trump over his record on jobs and the economy. This signals that Biden world is going to attempt to win back the working class voters who haven’t looked back since leaving the Democratic party for Trump in 2016. (RELATED: The Top 2024 GOP Candidates Prove The Trump-Fueled Republican Realignment Is Real)
If the economic message continues to fail, the Democrats will revert to their usual tactic — scream racism until they are blue in the face. But this is unlikely to be as successful as it was during the 2020 “summer of love.” Any president, or party, that gets blamed for kitchen table issues is unlikely to fare well under a national referendum. Despite the statistical trickery, people feel the pain in their pocketbooks, as the CBS poll shows. Biden will not escape his economic legacy so easily, and any candidate who puts forward a compelling economic vision will be a force to reckon with in 2024.