The Democratic US government underestimated inflation, which could cost them the midterm elections.
(Photo: AP)
Washington A reporter recently asked the US President how he was doing during the election campaign. “I feel good,” Joe Biden replied calmly. Of course, a president must spread positive messages during an election campaign, even if historically the ruling party is often punished in the midterm elections.
But it could be Biden’s optimism that could cost his Democrats a majority in the US Congress on November 8th. Biden’s government underestimated the danger posed by inflation and recognized the seriousness of the situation too late.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen described the rising prices as “temporary” as late as the summer of 2021 after Biden’s Democrats launched $1.9 trillion in economic aid. Today, inflation in the US is at its highest level in 40 years. Election day could therefore become a reckoning: people feel the high costs every day, the hesitation in the White House has not been forgotten.
Trump is to blame for a lot, but not everything
Some of the allegations against Biden are unfounded. He has achieved quite a lot under difficult circumstances: an infrastructure package, investments in climate protection and battery production, millions of dollars against child poverty. Germany can also be happy to have a strong transatlantic partner at its side in the Ukraine war – and not a president like Donald Trump, who despised NATO.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
>> Read here: Inflation and “perceived recession” – Biden faces an election disaster
Biden is not responsible for global supply chain problems, production bottlenecks and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is also not responsible for the failure of his predecessor Trump in the pandemic. But his government should have reacted earlier to inflation concerns and recognized that public sentiment was turning. Now Republicans, who are gaining momentum in polls, can capitalize on that early omission.
Biden’s second mistake is that he switched his core message too often. Hardly anyone knows what the Democrats stand for. Sometimes Biden was about resistance to the shift to the right, the “fight for the soul of the nation”. Then he focused on redistribution and higher corporate taxes—a goal he had to abandon.
Finally, the overturned abortion law should mobilize the base. It is questionable whether Biden’s many messages will get through to the handful of states that decide who holds power in Washington. Because worries about the economy dominate this election.
More: TTIP 2.0: if not now, when?