The Generation, Yeat 01, Issue 11
Democrats know voters have soured on President Biden’s handling of the economy, so they’ve fallen back on his approach: lie about it. A Democratic National Committee tweet Monday claimed Biden has “created” 423,000 jobs every month, on average — more than any of his past six predecessors. It asserts that President Donald Trump lost an average of 56,000 jobs every month.
This accounting simply dings Trump for jobs lost when the economy shut down during COVID and credits Biden for those recovered in reopening since then — which is about 70% of the president’s “job growth,” per a House Budget Committee report over the summer. Indeed, under Trump, employment jumped by 6.7 million until COVID.
That’s not a loss, but an average gain of 181,000 jobs a month. By contrast, through the summer, jobs under Biden grew by just 3 million beyond their pre-pandemic level, or about 107,000 a month. Had the number kept its pre-pandemic pace, Americans would have nearly 2 million more jobs today.
Americans can see with their own eyes it’s not — every time they go to the supermarket, fill up the tank or look at mortgage rates. Prices under Biden have soared 18% — about three times as fast as under Trump at this point in his presidency. Which is why polls consistently show voters flunking Biden on the economy.
A poll last week (Financial Times/University of Michigan) found only 14% of voters think they’re better off financially today than when Biden took office. A whopping 70% blame Biden for “hurting” the economy or at least not improving it, with 33% saying he’s “hurt the economy a lot.”
As for jobs: Per Antoni, the actual unemployment rate, after factoring those who’ve left the job market, is still a pathetic 6.5% to 7.4%. If Dems want more credit from voters for boosting the economy, tweeting disinfo just won’t work.
