Biden tries to flip skeptical Americans on his economic plan
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[June 28, 2023]
By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will use what aides are
billing as a major speech on Wednesday to lift Americans' dour mood
about the economy, hoping to shore up his key political weakness as he
seeks re-election.
Biden, whose two-year term as president has witnessed a sharp rebound
from the COVID-19 induced recession, has nonetheless watched his public
approval ratings sag under the weight of voter anxieties about inflation
and the knock-on effects of spiking interest rates on the direction of
the economy.
The U.S. president will attempt to re-introduce his vision of
middle-class American prosperity during a speech in Chicago.
The philosophy includes taxing the wealthy to invest in areas critical
to national security, including semiconductors; educating workers; and
improving economic competition, according to aides who previewed the
speech for reporters.
More than half - 54% - of Americans disapprove of how Biden is handing
his job, while just 35% of respondents approved of his stewardship of
the economy, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this
month. Voters rate the economy as their top issue.
The U.S. economy grew at a 1.3% annualized rate in the first quarter and
unemployment was at 3.7% in May, when inflation rose at a 4%
year-over-year rate.
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White House aides see those inflation figures as elevated but headed in
the right direction under Biden-backed policies designed to reduce
deficit spending and lower costs on a range of products from insulin to
concert tickets.
Federal Reserve officials have said they think they have "a long way to
go" to get inflation back down to healthy levels and may need to raise
borrowing costs more, which could cause a recession.
Aides are using the term "Bidenomics" to capture the Democratic
president's approach, drawing a contrast with the tax-cutting ethos once
called "Reaganomics" for its affiliation with Republican former
President Ronald Reagan, who left office in 1989.
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U.S. President Joe Biden announces a
$42.45 billion national grant program for high-speed internet
infrastructure deployment called the Broadband Equity Access and
Deployment (BEAD) program, at the White House in Washington, U.S.,
June 26, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
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"The president vowed to put in place a very different approach -
(an) approach that grows the economy from the middle out and the
bottom up," said Lael Brainard, director of Biden's National
Economic Council.
Whether his message will break through is an open question. The
summertime afternoon speech comes ahead of the July Fourth holiday,
16 months before voters head to the polls and as Republicans sort
through a large field of possible candidates led by former President
Donald Trump.
Biden's last major address to the nation, a June 2 Oval Office
speech trumpeting a bipartisan deal to end the debt limit crisis,
drew an audience of just 6.2 million people and was only picked up
by two of the major U.S. broadcast networks, according to research
firm Nielsen.
Trump has made inflation a key element of his attacks on Biden in
the early months of the race.
"Americans are worse off under Biden," said Republican National
Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a statement. "Prices continue
to skyrocket, and hardworking Americans pay the price for failed 'Bidenomics.'"
Biden, 80, is also expected to attend a fundraising event while he
is in the Chicago area ahead of a deadline for federal fundraising
records. He is not expected to face a serious fight for his party's
nomination.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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