Democratic voters’ low view of the economy could be a “threat” to President Biden’s re-election, a New York Times report warned.
A recent poll from the Times and Siena College found 62 percent of Democratic voters across six battleground states rated the economy as only “fair” or “poor.” That should be a “bad omen” to the Biden campaign, as some re-election campaigns have thrived or failed based on voters’ views of the economy, the report said.
Rising inflation and high interest rates have tended to hit Biden’s younger, lower income and more racially diverse voters the hardest, the Times reported. Several of these voters admitted they were dissatisfied with how Biden had handled the economy, but felt he was the only choice preventing another Donald Trump presidency.
Oscar Nuñez, a 27-year-old server from Nevada, said he expected better from Biden when he voted for him in 2020. However, he viewed another Trump term as “dangerous” for the country. “I’d prefer another option, but it seems like it will once again be my only option again,” he said of Biden.
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The economy was more important to Democratic voters in swing states for 2024 than it was in the 2022 midterms, the New York Times reported. ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images))
A young progressive couple from Georgia told the paper they felt Biden had not done enough to address the middle class and what they perceived as growing wealth inequality in this country.
Mackenzie Kiser, 20, told the paper she was unhappy with the economy but felt both Trump and Biden were too old to run again, leaving her between “a rock and a hard place” in the next election.
While these voters are soured by the economy, “it’s not clear” their frustrations would change their 2024 vote, the Times reported.
In their poll, 47% of Biden voters in these swing states were more concerned about social issues than the economy. However, the economy was still the top issue with 42% of Biden’s 2024 supporters.
Political research analyst Joshua Doss warned that the real “threat” was that these voters’ sour view of the economy would convince them to stay home and not vote at all.
“I think the likelihood that they would choose Trump is not the threat,” Doss said in the report. “The threat is that they would choose the couch and stay home, and enough of them would stay home for an electoral college win for Trump.”
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Biden voters, soured by the economy, are at risk of staying home in next election, the Times said. (Biden photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images and Trump photo Mario Tama/Getty Images )
The New York Times/Siena College poll also revealed more Black voters in these swing states were dissatisfied with Biden than they were in 2020.
The poll found, “22 percent of Black voters said they would support Donald Trump over Joe Biden in a hypothetical rematch in 2024. That’s compared to the 8 percent Trump carried nationally in 2020.”
Surveys also show Biden bleeding support with Hispanic voters. A Fox News poll from August shows Biden down 17 points from 2020 among Hispanic voters.
Biden campaign official Michael Tyler responded to voters saying they were frustrated by Biden’s broken promises in a CNN interview earlier this month. He argued one term was not enough to fix the country’s financial woes.
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“That’s precisely why we need another four years to continue to finish the job, right? I think it’s important, too, that the president, of course, wants to get all of this done. But we have to be honest about the brick wall of MAGA extremism that we continue to run into when we’re trying to get things done for the American people,” Tyler said.