Despite the Biden campaign’s effort to convince voters otherwise, a flurry of polls and surveys reveal that Americans are feeling the negative effects of the current administration’s economic policies.
President Joe Biden reportedly abandoned his “Bidenomics” talking points as he limps toward a re-election bid that continues to lose ground to likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. His prior messaging sought to portray the economy as a reason to give him another term in the White House, but a new LendingClub report presented a stark assessment of the reality for millions of struggling Americans.
Nearly two thirds of struggling consumers revolve credit card balances. Dive into the data from our latest Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report, a PYMNTS Intelligence & @LendingClub collaboration: https://t.co/sJ0UIIlb9I pic.twitter.com/YqRdOsoZKr
— PYMNTS (@pymnts) December 19, 2023
According to the survey, a whopping 62% of Americans reported that they were living paycheck to paycheck — and two-fifths of them maintained so-called “super-prime” credit scores. The overall number of people living paycheck to paycheck has been on the rise in recent months, though it still represented a clear majority — 58% — in March.
Making matters worse, millions of Americans who are trying to make ends meet under the Biden economy are also saddled with mounting credit card debt amid decades-high interest rates in place to address the rampant inflation of the past several years. LendingClub found that 57% of credit card owners are living paycheck to paycheck.
The news is particularly bad for Biden’s re-election campaign since so many Americans place much of the blame for their economic situation on his policies.
A recent Fox News poll found that a paltry 14% of people believe the policies have helped them. More than three times as many — 46% — said they have been personally hurt by Biden’s economic agenda.
The Wall Street Journal identified a similar trend with its latest survey, which found that 49% of voters said they personally benefited from Trump’s policies, which was more than twice as high as the percentage of respondents who said Biden’s policies were a net positive for them.
Even prominent Democratic Party operatives are admitting what millions of Americans already know.
“You know, job approval down, ratings generally down, most of the comparisons with Trump … not good,” said David Axelrod, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama, during a recent podcast interview. “You know, what I worry about … from a Biden standpoint is there are the kinds of things you get when people are starting to rationalize their votes, ‘Oh look, they’re ready to fire Biden; that’s a problem.’ And they just put out another photo op with the Bidenomics sign next to him. … It’s just unbelievable to me.”
