Why the messaging around “Bidenomics” might not be working
Why the messaging around “Bidenomics” might not be working
About a month ago, President Biden gave a big speech on the country’s economy and rolled out a new term to try to put a positive spin on its performance: Bidenomics. The Biden administration is touting a strong labor market and wage growth. It wants to ride that momentum right into the 2024 presidential election.
But not everyone is feeling so cheery about the economy. In fact, two-thirds of voters actually disapprove of the economy under Biden. Where’s the disconnect? Karen Petrou, co-founder and managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, has been writing about this. She spoke with “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio, and the following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: Earlier this year, I was talking about unemployment the lowest in more than half a century. Black unemployment in America has ticked up in the last two months, but still very, very low. Yet, when you ask people how the economy is doing, they are concerned. What accounts for some of this disconnect?
Karen Petrou: The disconnect is between the aggregate numbers and the fact that, in a country as unequal as the United States, most of us don’t experience the average numbers. We experience the very unequal distribution of, whether it’s employment, wages, and the impact of inflation on lower income households is devastating. Two out of three Americans view the president’s economic performance unfavorably. And that’s because two out of three American households is skipping purchases that they can’t afford. And almost two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That’s not a happy household when people are really struggling to make ends meet.
Brancaccio: Let’s rest on that statistic: More than half, almost two-thirds, 58% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. So how’s Bidenomics doing? Well, it has to factor in that condition.
Petrou: That’s my view. Even with inflation easing a bit, it now costs $121 to buy what cost us $100 at the end of 2019, which virtually every American household feels every day. That’s why I really do wish that the president were more responsive not to what he wishes the economy were, but how it is. The real, on-the-ground experience that is going to drive how voters go to the polls, or even stay home.
Brancaccio: So it’s this essential conundrum. You talk about economic indicators, they look like they’re rising, they may be going in the “right direction,” but that’s the aggregate, and people may not feel it. And if a politician is telling them they should feel better than they do, there’s going to be a political backlash.
Petrou: That’s what I fear, exactly. When people are ignored, when any of us is ignored, we get angry, we feel overlooked. And we want to make ourselves heard in ways that are often not super constructive. And, again, they are not going to be impressed by Bidenomics banners. They really need either to see performance, or a clear understanding by the president that there is a real problem here and one that needs to be fixed, quickly, not just talked about.
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