Even most Biden voters don’t see a booming economy

It is difficult for presidents to directly control inflation in the short term. But the White House has addressed some specific costs that matter to households, including releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in late 2022 to rein in rising oil prices. The Inflation Reduction Act reduced prescription drug prices under Medicare and capped the cost of insulin for people with diabetes. The administration also checks what it calls “junk costs”, that drive up the prices of things like concert tickets, airline tickets and even birthday parties.

The more the administration talks about its concrete efforts to lower prices, the more Mr. Biden will benefit, Mr. Doss said. At the same time, Biden can soften the blowback from persistent inflation by deflecting blame – an out-of-control pandemic was the original cause, he could plausibly argue, and most other rich countries are worse off.

That’s how it seems for Kendra McDowell, 44, an accountant and single mother of four in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Every time she goes to the supermarket, she feels the sting of inflation; she spent $1,000 on groceries last month and didn’t even do that. to fill her freezer – and for the health of her customers’ balance sheets. However, despite her assessment that the economy is bad, she is still confident enough to start a home health care business, a field that has been in greater demand since Covid-19 swept through nursing homes.

“When I talk about the economy, it’s just inflation, and to me the inflation is systemic and coming from the Trump administration,” Ms. McDowell said. If the pandemic had been quickly contained, she reasoned, supply chains and labor disruptions would not have sent prices soaring in the first place.

Moreover, she sees the situation healing itself, and thinks Mr. Biden is doing the best he can given the challenges of the wars in Ukraine and now Gaza. “People are shopping – you know why? Because they have jobs,” Ms. McDowell said. “God forbid, if I have to look for a job today or tomorrow, it will be easier than before.”