Why the Dems are underwater with voters

 The Hill:

President Biden and other Democrats are confronting a stark truth — they’re getting blamed for what’s bad in the economy and getting no credit for what’s good.

The dynamic could spell electoral doom in November.

The Democrats’ failure to get voters to recognize the upside of the economy is not for lack of trying.

On Thursday, fresh data showed new unemployment claims at their lowest level since modern records began in 1968. The president responded with a statement in which he noted that almost 8 million jobs had been created since he took office — “more jobs created on average per month than under any other president in history,” he said.

Later the same day, in a speech to construction unions, Biden noted the sharp decline in the unemployment rate during his tenure — from 6.4 percent in January 2021 to 3.6 percent now — as well as the big recovery in U.S. gross domestic product last year.

None of it is making much of a dent in public opinion.

An NBC News survey late last month found a huge 63 percent of the population disapproving of Biden’s handling of the economy and just 33 percent approving.

An Economist-YouGov poll this week asked people how they viewed the state of the economy.

Just 1 in 4 said it was either “excellent” or “good.” Twenty-seven percent rated the economy as only “fair,” and 42 percent said it was “poor.”

The clear culprit is inflation.

The inflation rate hit 7.9 percent in the latest figures, which cover February, the highest level seen since 1982.

The most obvious manifestation of rampaging inflation is high gas prices, which have been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But inflation is affecting virtually everything, including the price of food. Then there are knock-on effects, such as mortgage rates that have risen sharply, making it harder for people to buy homes.

The visceral way in which inflation is felt is blocking out the other, more positive economic news, and the fear is palpable among Democrats as they look toward November
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Meanwhile, Republicans are tightening the screws on Biden’s economic record.

“Biden and the Democrats created 40-year high inflation, record-setting gas prices, and an economy leaving too many behind. Democrats will pay the price for their reckless spending agenda in November,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a Friday statement.

Concerns are growing that those attacks are effective.
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Democrats deserve the blame.  They deliberately drove up the price of oil and gas by limiting the supply of US production and they spent like drunken sailors which also drove up inflation.  As bad as Biden was, the Democrats in Congress were just as bad.