White House embraces ‘Bidenomics’ as it seeks to woo skeptical voters

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Joe Biden is making a fresh effort to sell his economic agenda to Americans as the effects of his industrial policies begin to be felt and inflation continues to ease, to win over voters who have been skeptical.

The US president is heading to Chicago on Wednesday for what his top aides have described as a key speech on “Bidenomics” at the sprawling Old Post Office in the city’s downtown.

Biden’s move reflects a growing belief inside the White House that he can garner more political credit for his sweeping economic legislation that has pumped billions of dollars into infrastructure, clean energy and chips manufacturing as he seeks reelection in 2024. Continuing his campaign for the election.

Although more than 13 million jobs have been created during his presidency, polls since late 2021 have consistently shown that Americans dislike Biden’s way of handling the economy. Administration officials hope they now have a better case for reversing that negative perception.

“We are seeing shovels in the ground, we are seeing private investment coming back to our country. We are seeing millions of jobs being created,” White House principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters at a preview of Biden’s speech on Tuesday. “With all of those accomplishments, the president can take this message to the American people and say: ‘This is what Bidenomics is and this is what we have to show for it.’

This is not the first attempt to promote Biden’s economic agenda. Periodic efforts to promote economic reform and pieces of legislation proved a tough sell among voters as inflation rose to a 40-year high. Democrats struggled to campaign in full force on the economy in last year’s midterm elections.

But with the current combination of a strong labor market with falling inflation, senior administration officials believe they are in a strong place to try to make the case for their policies, to the extent that they are openly speaking for the first time. But using “Bidenomics”. ” Duration.

On Monday, Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon, the president’s top political advisers at the White House, wrote a memo arguing that America is finally “turning the page on the failed trickle-down policies” pursued by Republicans — suggesting that that it will be a top theme of Biden’s 2024 campaign.

Top White House economic officials have also been this week describing ways in which the data is moving in the direction they were looking for — not only declining inflation and a resilient labor market despite tighter monetary policy, but industrial construction This was helped by a pick-up in manufacturing subsidies and a jump in consumer sentiment to the highest level since the start of 2022.

White House National Director Lael Brainard said, “The president has vowed to take a very different approach, an approach that moves the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, and that focuses on growing our middle class.” Is.” Economic Council said. “He will look at all the ways in which his plan is working”.

The White House’s case on the economy has also been helped by the fact that the US emerged relatively unscathed from the banking crisis that struck parts of the financial system at the start of the year, and was able to avert what could have been a catastrophic default. Earlier this month, Biden struck a deal with Republicans to raise the US borrowing limit.

Administration officials are also increasingly comparing US economic performance to other advanced economies – as well as competitors such as China – to argue that the president’s policies have put the country in a better economic position than the rest of the world.

What will worry the White House is that the economic difficulties encountered during Biden’s presidency – including rapidly rising prices, labor shortages and supply chain disruptions – are now being hammered home in Americans’ minds as policy failures. Have gone, even though some have started decreasing. Republicans have consistently criticized Biden’s economic record, especially on inflation, with the consumer price index still rising at an annual rate of 4 percent last month, well above pre-pandemic levels.

“(Biden) continues to pursue the same big-government, big-spending policies that helped get us into this trouble,” Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota said earlier this month. “And so it’s surprising to me that the President has the audacity to say things like ‘hardworking families are reaping the fruits of his policies.’ Hardworking families are certainly reaping some benefits from the President’s policies, but this award Not there.”

Furthermore, it is not clear whether the economic recovery will continue. Although Federal Reserve officials are not expecting a recession, they are expected to raise interest rates by half a percentage point this year — monetary tightening that may dampen some optimism inside the White House.