Americans Aren't Buying 'Bidenomics'

Americans Aren't Buying 'Bidenomics'

Biden is trying to convince Americans his agenda is working.
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey
Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Happy Wednesday! Here’s what we’ve been watching.

Americans Still Not Buying ‘Bidenomics’

With inflation falling and households finally seeing rising incomes in real terms, the U.S. economy continues to chug along, much to the surprise of those economists who for months have been predicting that a recession is just around the corner. The generally upbeat news, however, does not appear to be helping President Joe Biden much as he tries to sell his economic program, dubbed “Bidenomics,” to American voters.

In a poll conducted from July 12 to 17 by Monmouth University, just 34% of respondents said they approve of Biden’s handling of inflation, while 62% said they disapprove. Biden also isn’t receiving much credit for his efforts to boost U.S. infrastructure, which include subsidies for clean energy and electric vehicle producers. Just 43% said they approve of how he has handled transportation and energy infrastructure, while 51% said they disapprove.

Biden fared a bit better on his handling of jobs and employment, with a 47% approval rate, but even there, slightly more (48%) said they disapprove.

Americans also don’t seem to think that the U.S. under Biden is doing better than the rest of the world as it recovers from the pandemic, despite the country’s solid performance relative to other countries. Just 30% said the U.S. has done better, while 32% said the U.S. has done worse.

Overall, Monmouth says Biden “gets mediocre to poor marks” on his handling of the economy from the American public, despite his recent appearances around the country to promote his programs. A big part of the problem for Biden is partisanship. While more than 70% of Democrats give him positive marks on the economy, more than 80% of Republicans give him negative ones, and independents lean more toward the right than the left on the issue.

“The president has been touting ‘Bidenomics,’ but the needle of public opinion has not really moved,” said Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray. “Americans are just not giving him a lot of credit when it comes to the economy.”

Still, the White House is pressing ahead with its efforts to convince people that the economy is in pretty good shape and the president’s policies have a lot to do with that. “Polls don’t tell the full story — the combination of unemployment and inflation is near historic lows, consumer confidence is increasing, and wages are rising,” White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa told Bloomberg. He also said that Democrats’ better-than-expected performance in the midterm elections indicates that voters “are choosing economic policies that grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up over congressional Republicans’ trickle-down economics.”

US to Send Another $1.3 Billion to Ukraine for Military Supplies

The United States is providing $1.3 billion in assistance to Ukraine to finance the purchase of additional military equipment, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. The aid will be provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which enables the U.S. to contract with suppliers that send equipment to Ukraine directly, rather than drawing down on U.S. military stocks.

The money will be used to purchase additional air defense systems; artillery rounds suitable for Soviet-era equipment; mine-clearing equipment; anti-tank missiles; drones; fuel trucks; and recovery equipment, among other things.

Earlier this week, the U.S. said it would also provide humanitarian, agricultural and economic aid packages to Ukraine worth $1 billion.

Opinion of the Day: No Labels and No Details, Either

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has been flirting with the idea of a third-party presidential bid under the banner of the bipartisan group No Labels. Manchin has repeatedly refused to rule out such a bid. In an appearance at a No Labels forum in New Hampshire on Monday, Manchin said that an outside candidate could drive Democrats and Republicans toward more moderate stances — but he said that he wasn’t looking to play spoiler. “If I get in a race, I’m going to win,” he said.

With Manchin and No Labels garnering increased attention — and making Democrats, in particular, sweat about the possibility that they might swing the 2024 election to Donald Trump or another Republican — Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center took a look at the 63-page “Common Sense” policy paper that No Labels has released. “On some issues, the group is highly specific, extoling the benefits of charter schools, Medicare drug pricing reform, and raising the age for gun purchases,” Gleckman writes. “But, unfortunately, when it comes to fiscal policy, No Labels has no details. Many platitudes. But few actual proposals.”

There’s little about tax policy, for instance, and only broad, vague exhortations to reduce deficits and debt: “Washington must stop spending so much more than it takes in. From now on, the annual budget should be reasonable and responsible, which means our national debt needs to stop growing faster than our economy.”

Gleckman notes that the group specifies some cost reductions in Medicare but its fiscal recommendations otherwise rely on faster economic growth and a deficit commission.

“Faster growth is largely a function of a growing working age population and an increase in worker productivity. There are limits to how public policy can influence either,” Gleckman writes. “And a deficit commission? The very idea makes my head hurt. No Labels acknowledges the failure of previous efforts but seems convinced that if only the new commission could be designed better, the outcome would be different this time. The sad reality is that if Congress wants to ignore a commission’s recommendations, it will find a way to do so. … Perhaps a commission could give lawmakers cover to do serious deficit reduction. But only if they want to reduce spending and raise taxes. By a lot. And recent experience, up to and including the recent debt limit deal, is clear and convincing evidence that they don’t.”

Read the full piece at the Tax Policy Center’s blog.

Number of the Day: $5 Billion

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed recently that he’s a Grateful Dead fan. But as Powell and his colleagues look to cool the economy and choke off inflation, he might not be a Swiftie.

Market research firm QuestionPro estimated recently that pop star Taylor Swift’s concert tour could help add $5 billion to the global economy, Catlin O’Kane reports at CBS News. O’Kane adds that the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noted this month that Swift’s shows increased travel and tourism to the region.

"Despite the slowing recovery in tourism in the region overall, one contact highlighted that May was the strongest month for hotel revenue in Philadelphia since the onset of the pandemic, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city," the bank wrote in its Beige Book report on economic conditions, which was released last week.

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