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Any Way You Slice It, Poll on Bidenomics Is NOT Good

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  August 15, 2023 9:00 PM

No matter how much the Biden administration tries to gaslight the American people into thinking otherwise, they're not buying that the economy is doing too well. Even mainstream and liberal media outlets are noticing and acknowledging as much. President Joe Biden has low approval ratings as it is, and it's even worse on the economy, as the polls tell a very different story from what he and those in his administration are claiming.

CBS News recently released a poll which, as Guy covered at the time late last month, showed that it was not looking good for how Americans view the economy and what that meant for Biden's approval numbers on the issue. Thirty-four percent approve of his handling of the economy, while 64 percent disapprove. It's as low as it's ever been for the president, the poll noted. It's even worse on inflation, in that just 30 percent approve, while 70 percent disapprove.

Since then, CBS News has released further analysis on why Biden fares so poorly on the economy. "CBS News poll analysis looks at how Americans rate the economy through a partisan lens," read Monday's headline. 

"There are various factors that go into how people evaluate the country's economy — their own personal financial situation, the price of goods, economic indicators —  but there's one more that might not immediately come to mind: political partisanship," the opening paragraph offers.

Given these particularly polarizing times we live in, though, partisanship isn't all that surprising a factor. 

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The analysis highlights how 83 percent of Republicans view the economy as bad, while just 15 percent view it as good, which isn't surprising. What is surprising, though, is that barely a majority of Democrats, at 52 percent view it as good, while a not insignificant 44 percent view it as bad. When broken down further by "very good," "fairly good," "fairly bad," and "very bad," Democrats are actually more likely to say it's "very bad" (15 percent) than they are to say it's "very good" (11 percent). Independents don't think the economy is going too well, either, considering that 72 percent regard it as bad while just 24 percent regard it as good. 

Overall, 29 percent viewed the economy as good, while 65 percent viewed it as bad. 

When discussing the partisan view of the economy, CBS News had this to say:

At the time, the country was deeply polarized after the contentious 2000 presidential election and its aftermath. Except for a rally effect around then-President Bush after the 9/11 attacks — a time when partisans came together on many issues — these large partisan splits on evaluations of the economy began to materialize. 

Since then, with some exceptions (more on that later), how Americans assess the economy began to be viewed more through a political lens, and this became more connected to the party of the sitting president.

In more recent years, the pace at which this gap emerges has accelerated, a further sign that views of the economy have often become a proxy for views of the sitting president. 

For instance, in December 2016, while Barack Obama was still president, only 32% of Republicans said the economy was good, but that number shot up to 61% in February 2017, just two months later — and barely 30 days into Donald Trump's presidency. 

Similarly, we saw the percentage of Democrats who said the economy was good jump 24 points soon after Joe Biden took office.

Given how much Biden has tanked the economy and he and his handlers have tried to claim otherwise, it's not all that surprising that the economy would be "viewed more through a political lens and... connected to the party of the sitting president."

The poll had also looked to examine how Americans view Bidenomics, and it's no doubt not what the administration wants to hear. A separate CBS News write-up about the poll's findings included a section on "The race to define 'Bidenomics,'" which in part discussed "the challenge President Biden faces in his latest push to get the public to reconsider not just how they think of the economy, which few describe as "rebounding," but also the meaning of the phrase his administration has coined, 'Bidenomics.'"

A whopping 59 percent of respondents said they heard "not much" or "nothing about it." Those who have heard about it "skew Republican right now," the write-up also noted. Among the 41 percent who said they heard "a lot" (14 percent) or "some" (27 percent) about Bidenomics, 50 percent "higher inflation" comes to mind, while 49 percent said "tax increases" come to mind." Just 32 percent said "job creation" comes to mind and just 34 percent said "investment in infrastructure" comes to mind. 

Trying to dispel that problematic narrative might be why the president went to Milwaukee earlier on Tuesday to give a speech on how "Bidenomics Is Investing in America." 

Besides the awkward moments, Biden also made claims that Bidenomics is "working," including with regards to how "wages are growing faster than inflation." While he likes to brag incessantly about inflation, it's still far too high. 

As one can see from CBS News poll, though, Americans don't believe that to be the case. Further, while Biden may have a 38.4 percent approval rating on the economy, per RealClearPolitics (RCP), his approval rating on inflation is even worse, at 33.8 percent. 

The poll found that a strong majority--at 69 percent--say prices in the past few weeks have been going up. Just 6 percent say they're going down. 

Further, 45 percent of respondents say that the Biden administration's policies are actually increasing inflation. Thirty-six percent don't know or say they have no impact. For Congressional Republicans, the number who say their policies are increasing inflation is much lower, at 25 percent, though a majority, at 63 percent, say they don't know or have no impact.

The CBS News poll Twitter account decided to highlight the negative impact this has for Republicans, despite how a plurality of respondents believe Biden's policies are increasing inflation.

When it comes to the claims about wages, Community Notes has hit the administration before on the error. And, as the poll also pointed to, among those working, 70 percent said that their wages are not keeping with inflation.