The Democrats' Elitist Macroeconomic Problem

Democrats continuously use macroeconomic indicators to tell people how good they actually have it. But polls tell a different story.

Back in October, Joe Biden stood in front of reporters to boast about the September 2023 jobs report. In that report, nonfarm payrolls increased by 336,000, hourly earnings rose 0.2%, and the unemployment rate was at 3.8%. While giving himself a victory lap around the White House, a reporter asked

“Why do you think most people still don’t feel positive, or feel good news about the economy?”

Biden starts answering with some incoherent mumble about a boy saving a dog, or something like that. Check it out, it’s in the White House transcript. He then follows up by talking about how Americans know that they are “better off financially than they were before.” But then, still talking about the American people, he says

“I think they know they’re better off financially than they were before.  It’s a fact.

And all the — all that data — all that polling stuff shows they think — they’re more positive about the economy than they’ve been, more positive about their jobs, et cetera.”

I’m sorry, but this is flat-out wrong. In a YouGov poll done a week and a half before Biden’s press conference, only 17% of Americans thought that the economy was getting better, with 56% saying it was getting worse. In addition. only 12% of Americans said that they were better off financially than they were one year before, with 45% saying they are worse off financially. A poll, also done by YouGov a week after his press conference, essentially showed the same results. If we look at that same question today, still only 12% of Americans feel that their financial situation is better off than a year ago. The numbers have been absolutely static, even throughout the crosstabs.

This inaccuracy by Biden throws up a bunch of questions. Does Biden know how the average American feels about the economy? Does his staff give him the real numbers, or fake numbers? Does Biden know the reality and just doesn’t care? This perplexing alternative fact to “all that data” really makes one think that the Democrats either don’t know or don’t care about how Americans are dealing with the economy.

Still, the economy is, and probably always will be, the driving force behind vote choice. As James Carville said back in the early 1990s, “it’s the economy, stupid.” We’ll get back to Jimmy later.

Ever since Biden took over, this Jedi mind trick of “the economy is better off than you think it is” isn’t working. Average Americans are feeling the pinch, and polling indicates that. The way that elite Democrats cope with this is by simply looking at macroeconomic indicators, which only give a bird’s-eye view of the economy. They throw Steve Rattner up on the MSNBC stage, using his graphs and pointer saying that people’s reality isn’t really the real reality. Meanwhile, the modern-day House of Bourbon, Joe Scarborough and Mika “Let them eat cake” Brzezinski warmly applaud while the peasants outside suffer.

Steve Rattner telling the peasants that everything is fine.

But the cold, hard facts are that Americans don’t feel the that economy is working for them. They also don’t see Biden as the man to improve it. In the latest Quinnipiac poll, 54% of voters think Donald Trump would do better with the economy compared to 42% for Biden. In the most recent Harvard-Harris poll, 48% of Americans think their personal financial situation is getting worse, while only 28% say it’s getting better.

Democrats need to realize quickly that they have to work with the electorate that they have, not the one that they want. And right now, the electorate doesn’t like the Biden economy. Inflation is killing them, they feel that their personal finances are getting worse, and that Biden isn’t going to improve their economic situation. But, of course, Democrats rarely get out and meet working-class voters nowadays, but instead sit in an ignorant bliss of Steve Rattner playing on a loop.

Oh, back to James Carville.

Back in December, Carville was on Bill Maher. During Maher’s Overtime show. Carville, who had been playing up the Biden economy, said the quiet part out loud. Play the follow clip for about 15 seconds.

There…did you hear it? He said “if people don’t feel it.” Exactly! People don’t feel it! This is the point where it seems that the Democratic message regarding the economy is elitist and disingenuous. Carville damn well knew that “people don’t feel it”, and he’s right, they don’t. “All that data” proves that. But the order of the day in Democratic politics is to say that the economy is fine and nothing is wrong, which will make you a good “team player”.

Democrats need to get out of their echo chamber and actually meet some real people. If they don’t, expect another four years of Trump.