It feels like this headline just keeps repeating itself, but it’s true. Democrats are nervously watching while the Biden administration waltzes its way toward a loss in 2024 as it refuses to acknowledge political reality.
Story after story from various mainstream outlets in recent months has continued sounding the alarm. Even after the so-called “victory” for Democrats in the recent off-year elections, Biden’s fate in 2024 seems less than assured.
The most recent iteration from Politico points out that Trump’s numbers have continued to strengthen while Joe Biden keeps his head in the sand:
President Joe Biden’s poll numbers keep getting worse.
November started with New York Times/Siena College polls showing Trump ahead in four of the six swing states, but more indicators of Biden’s electoral peril soon followed. The president’s standing in head-to-head matchups with Trump is falling: Among the latest surveys this month from 13 separate pollsters, Biden’s position is worse than their previous polls in all but two of them.
And while polls suggest most of the movement comes from voters abandoning Biden — who might become undecided but not swing to supporting Trump — the Republican has also started to gain steam. Trump’s vote share in the national polling average is higher now than at any point in the past year.
The state-level data are just as striking: In addition to those New York Times/Siena polls, within the last week and a half, other surveys have shown Trump ahead by 8 points in Arizona and 5 points up in Michigan.
Biden’s recent slide — and his political predicament some 11 months before Election Day — represent a confluence of slippage with reliable Democratic constituencies like young voters, the outbreak of war in the Middle East and the rise of independent and third-party candidates who could siphon votes from both Biden and Trump.
How much worse is the “worse” Politico is talking about? Here’s a handy graphic for comparison sake:
In all but Rasmussen over the past three months, Biden has dropped anywhere from two to three points against Trump.
To no one’s surprise, younger voters are realizing that Bidenomics is an economic catastrophe for newcomers exiting college and entering the workforce. Home prices have skyrocketed and the rise in interest rates, married to inflation, has erected a wall to homeownership for many. The result is that rent prices in most places are untenable as well.
Everything, in fact, has seen double-digit increases according to Bloomberg:
It’s hard to find an area of a household budget that’s been spared: Groceries are up 25% since January 2020. Same with electricity. Used-car prices have climbed 35%, auto insurance 33% and rents roughly 20%.
Those figures help explain why Americans continue to register strong dissatisfaction with the economy: Consumers’ daily routines have largely returned to their pre-pandemic normal, but the cost of living has not.
Despite inflation “cooling,” various household goods remain vastly more expensive than they were just two years ago. Young voters may like Biden’s policies on social issues but they’re being crushed by his economic failures on practically every front.
In a related Politico article, Mileah Kromer argues that the polls are merely a reflection of the thing Democrats keep ignoring which is voter concerns about the economy:
Instead, what should be causing a considerable sense of panicked urgency is what voters have been telling pollsters about economic issues.
Over the last year, polls have shown voters holding a decidedly grim economic outlook. Most Americans rate current economic conditions as “poor.” Many think we are in a recession and aren’t optimistic that things will improve. They view Republicans as better able to address economic issues and, in the crucial battleground states, have more trust in Trump than Biden to do a better job on the economy — and by a whopping 22 points. An October poll from PRRI found that, in a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, “increasing costs of housing and everyday expenses” topped the list of the most important issues for voters. Other polls have found similar results.
The expressed economic anxiety is understandable even if not entirely rational. Voters hold these attitudes while the inflation rate has steadily decreased from its peak last summer, unemployment rates remain low with U.S. employers continuing to add jobs and many facets of Biden’s economic plan are popular. Even so, with prices of everyday goods and services stubbornly high, it might be enough to cost Biden his reelection.
The Biden administration keeps quietly skipping along the trail telling voters everything is fine and the economy is great. They don’t believe him since they’re living it firsthand. Dishing out supposedly rosy economic stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t explain to someone why they can’t find affordable housing or stretch their paycheck beyond gas and groceries.
Videos like this keep popping up on social media and going viral because many people can relate:
Bidenomics does not work for everyone. Only the illegal aliens crossing the border are benefitting.
— Dr. Joker (@13NVESTR13) November 25, 2023
What Biden says about the economy and the way Americans feel about the economy are entirely different.
Abortion can’t save Democrats forever if families can’t put food on the table and pay their bills in a dual-income household.
