It’s the Economy Stupid…..Biden 2024…..

President Biden has little control actually over the American economy….

But?

Feelings about the economy, by Americans,  have influence over of IF Joe Biden keeps his job….

The Democratic President NEEDS to find SOMETHING he can use to show voters that HE helped them save some money…..

All the ‘experts’ saying the economy is good IS NOT doing Joe Biden a damn thing…..

 

Democrats are freaking out about the wrong polls….

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But it’s important not to lose the signal through the noise here. Horse race polls, approval ratings and other candidate-centered indicators a full year out from the 2024 election aren’t something Democrats need to set their hair on fire over — at least not yet.

Instead, what should be causing a considerable sense of panicked urgency is what voters have been telling pollsters about economic issues.

I’m the director of the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College. We conduct the Goucher College Poll, which measures opinions on political and policy issues in Maryland. And I’ve seen how focused messaging on cost-of-living issues can drive broader economic attitudes and win elections — even in the most challenging electoral environments.

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 PRRIfound 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. …

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The bipartisan lesson from Hogan and Whitmer is that voters remember and reward politicians who saved them a direct household expense more than any argument based on macro-level economic indicators. Voters care about the economy in front of them.

None of this is to say that only the economy matters. In fact, preelection polling and electoral outcomes in the recent off-year elections in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky once again confirmed that protecting access to abortion is a winning issue for Democrats. Indeed, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear — who faced a similarly challenging partisan environment in Kentucky as Hogan did in Maryland — bested his Republican opponent in large part due to protecting access to abortion.

But polling also suggests Beshear’s success with a red-state electorate that voted to reelect Trump by 26 points in 2020 is not simply an artifact of attitudes toward abortion. Polling released by Data for Progress, a progressive-leaning firm that correctly placed the Kentucky governor’s race as a tight contest with Beshear leading, in the weeks before the election found that “jobs and the economy” was the key issue for Kentucky voters. Polls of national voters, including those conducted in battleground states, continue to sing a similar tune…..

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