President Joe Biden’s rebranding of his economic policies has largely failed to convince the public that key aspects of the economy are significantly improving, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden’s rebranding of his economic policies has largely failed to convince the public that key aspects of the economy are significantly improving, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Biden gets his best marks for his handling of jobs with the unemployment rate of 3.6%, with 47% approval and 48% disapproval. On his handling of infrastructure, his approval is 43% with 51% disapproving.
On inflation, his approval is just 34% with 62% disapproving, despite a cooling of price increases over the past year, with the consumer price index falling to 3%.
Read more: Inflation at 3% Flags End of Emergency, Turning Point for Fed
Monmouth calls the marks “mediocre to poor.” The numbers are statistically unchanged from last September, despite an effort from the White House to emphasize the real-world impact of Biden’s economic policies as the president looks toward reelection next year.
Biden has embraced the term “Bidenomics,” to highlight his agenda in events and speeches across the country with voter perceptions of the economy expected to be front-and-center in 2024.
“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.”
White House officials said that economic indicators show that Bidenomics is working.
“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,” said White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa. He said last year’s midterm elections showed that Americans “are choosing economic policies that grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up over congressional Republicans’ trickle-down economics.”
The partisan divide is stark, but independent voters lean more toward Republicans. They give Biden a 41% approval for jobs and unemployment, 37% for infrastructure, and just 26% for inflation.
Read More: Bidenomics Threatened by Trying to Meet Too Many Goals at Once
Only three in 10 Americans say the US recovery from the pandemic has outpaced other countries, Monmouth said.
The poll of 910 adults was conducted July 12 to 17, with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
(Updates with White House reaction in the seventh paragraph)
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