President Joe Biden and his administration have adopted the Thomas Edison way of examining public policy: The White House has not failed; officials found 1,000 ways that won’t work. Unlike Edison, who presented mankind with one of the greatest inventions in human history, Bidenomics cannot uncover any successes nearly three years into the president’s term. That is unless spending money and adding to the national debt are considered victories. Heading into the 2024 election cycle, all the president’s men and women have shifted into campaign mode, attempting to elicit support for Biden’s economic agenda. Despite the re-election team’s online and offline marketing campaign, the American people are not buying what the administration is selling.
The Bidenomics Marketing Campaign
“Bidenomics is about the future,” the president told a crowd in Chicago, IL, in July. “Bidenomics is just another way of saying ‘restore the American Dream because it worked before.’” But many Americans appear to have adopted the famous George Carlin joke when assessing the Biden plan: “That’s why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
The CNBC All-America Economic Survey in July revealed that President Biden’s economic approval rating stood at just 37%, up from 34% in April. A Reuters/Ipsos poll reported that 42% of the president’s 2020 voters said the economy was “worse” than in 2020. A recent CBS News study found that only 34% approved of Biden’s handling of the economy. A new CNN poll showed that half of the country thinks the economy is in a downturn and deteriorating. This is in addition to the overall 46% approval rating, according to Rasmussen Reports.
“The president has been touting ‘Bidenomics,’ but the needle of public opinion has not really moved. Americans are just not giving him a lot of credit when it comes to the economy,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a statement.
A quick glance at the official X (nee Twitter) pages of the White House, Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris shows a parade of posts spotlighting the supposed gains made by Bidenomics, from the incorrect assertion that inflation is falling to the misleading declaration that the president’s economy created more than 13 million new jobs. Some of the statements were so bad that they were slapped with a Community Notes fact-check.
As Liberty Nation’s Kelli Ballard reported last month, Biden and Harris have been touting three pieces of legislation integral to the regime’s economic prescription: the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Despite proclamations that these bills have resulted in less inflation, bolstered the country’s manufacturing sector, and advanced the Made in America objectives, the reality has vastly differed from what Democrats in Washington are conveying to the American people. Inflation is much higher than when Biden arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the manufacturing industry is in a recession, and the president’s America First endeavor plagiarizes a page from Trumponomics.
This may explain why the public cannot rally around the Bidenomics agenda. While the administration champions an economy “strong as hell,” the American people on the ground know better. They see gasoline prices trending toward $4 again, supermarket prices continuing to climb, housing costs surging, and purchasing power being eroded by Bidenflation. The cynical policy wonks come across legislation that subsidizes wealthy corporations to build plants, pays companies to create jobs, and picks winners and losers (electric vehicles vs gasoline-powered automobiles). Oh, and a deeper dive exposes the Chinese government receiving some of the benefits.
The population’s general disdain and skepticism surrounding Bidenomics have prompted the president and his right-hand woman to mirror pop icon Taylor Swift and travel the country to tell the country that they should not believe their lying eyes. It is safe to say that the second edition of the Biden-Harris nationwide tour will not sell out arenas or be a fraction as popular as Swiftonomics. Heck, not even an appearance by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm or second gentleman Doug Emhoff will transform voters into 1950s bobbysoxers.
Joe Biden (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
But the latest talking point, from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to Senate and House Democrats, is that it takes time for these legislative pursuits to trickle down to the public. The country should expect to experience the benefits later. Like the international community’s green energy ambitions, the outcomes will not be realized until far into the future. By then, once these goals fail, nobody will be held accountable, and everyone is worse off.
A Barbie World
What are some reliable metrics of how well the economy is performing? According to Politico, the public is “heading into the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies.” One reporter at the last post-Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting press conference suggested that economic conditions were strong because consumers were flooding Taylor Swift concerts. Last year, the White House dismissed the recession because the gross domestic income (GDI) and gross domestic output (GDO) expanded, although they have been in contraction territory since then.
Politics is ostensibly about picking and choosing what measurements to champion to the voting public. It is comparable to any sports strategy: Emphasize strengths and hide weaknesses. Based on the treasure trove of polling data, the American people’s perception is akin to the famous Raymond Chandler line from The High Window: “From 30 feet away, she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away, she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away.”
