With the midterms fast approaching, there seems not to be a flicker of good for Joe Biden. As polls show that inflation and the economy are the key issues that will decide how people vote in November, it’s not helping him that voters think he sucks when it comes to handling the economy.
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 27% of likely voters approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 71% give him a fair or poor rating.
These are terrible numbers — make no mistake about it. But what I want to know is, who are the 27% who approve of Biden’s handling of the economy? What kind of person looks at what’s happening right now and thinks, “Biden’s doing such a great job!”
Democrats, mostly. Of course.
The poll found that 50% of Democrat voters rate Biden’s handling of the economy as excellent or good. It’s hard to imagine how even loyal Democrats can look at the economy today and think things are swell. Yeah, I know…
I don’t doubt that these people who say they approve of the way Biden has handled the economy argue that Biden is not to blame for gas prices or inflation. According to the poll, only 24% of Democrats blame Biden for high gas prices, while 46% blame Big Oil and 20% blame Putin.
Related: Joe Biden Busted for His Latest Inflation Whopper
It’s nice to see nearly a quarter of Democrats admitting that Biden is to blame for high gas prices. As for those who don’t, I’m sure these are the same people who were more than happy to blame Trump whenever gas prices went up just a teensy weensy bit on his watch.
And believe me, plenty did. For example, when Trump was in the process of getting the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal, the media linked his efforts to increases in the price of oil. “Energy industry insiders say Trump’s tough stance on Iran will probably keep oil and gasoline prices higher than they would otherwise be,” CNN claimed back in 2018.
So we all know that a president can, via his policies, impact the market and thus influence the price of gas. And we all know that on his first day in office, in addition to killing the Keystone XL Pipeline, Biden signed executive orders ending Trump’s energy independence initiatives and directed government agencies to review and rescind Trump-era policies that made the United States energy independent. In addition, Biden pushed for more burdensome emissions regulations and limited domestic energy production, among other things. A week later, he announced a moratorium on new oil and gas leases and set a goal of doubling costly and inefficient wind power production by 2025.
Yet three-quarters of Democrats refuse to acknowledge how Biden’s policies have impacted gas prices and buy into his finger-pointing and blaming Big Oil and Putin for the nation’s woes. I suppose the one bright spot for Biden in this poll is that he’s managed to convince some in his party that he’s not to blame. While that may be an accomplishment of sorts for Ol’ Joe, the bottom line is that an overwhelming majority of voters blame him.
