The White House is desperate to sell the American people on its pet initiatives, but President Joe Biden is instead coming off as increasingly out of touch, GOP strategists told the Daily Caller.
Throughout his presidency, Biden has touted his economic strategy, dubbed “Bidenomics,” his electric vehicle (EV) tax credit and funding for Ukraine as key policy priorities. The White House’s messaging of Biden’s initiatives backfiring badly as the president and his administration seem disconnected from what matters to the country’s voters, and its reflecting in the polls, the GOP strategists told the Daily Caller.
“What they choose to focus on in the face of obvious problems is a major political liability,” Scott Jennings, a longtime GOP adviser in Kentucky and veteran of numerous campaigns, told the Daily Caller. “Whether it’s inflation, EVs, violent crime, antisemitism, they almost always choose to focus on something that’s so way off the mark, and outside of the center of where most people realize things are.”
“It calls into question their judgment. Do they not have enough judgment to realize that what you’re saying is nowhere near sort of the center of everything? It just makes them seem so out of touch. And by the way, it’s very easy for an 81-year-old man to see out of touch and then make it worse every day.”
The White House continues to champion “Bidenomics,” citing low unemployment rates and decreasing inflation rates. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that Thanksgiving in 2023 will be one of the “cheapest ever” by showing a food menu and the price drops of each item. Biden acknowledged earlier in the month that the American people aren’t sold on his economic policies, but attributed it to a “disconnect.” (RELATED: White House, Media Elites Think Americans Are Too Stupid To See How Good Biden’s Economy Is)
“And as we start preparing our Thanksgiving meals, grocery inflation is at its lowest level in over two years with prices for eggs, milk, bacon and fresh veggies lower than last year,” Jean-Pierre said during a Monday press briefing. “In fact, according to the American Farm Bureau, the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner fell this year. Prices are down for turkey, stuffing peas, cranberries, pie crust and whipping cream,” Jean-Pierre continued while standing next to a graphic showing the price decline of each ingredient named.
KJP opens today’s briefing by whipping out a literal food menu and claiming that this Thanksgiving is actually one of the cheapest ever pic.twitter.com/j4vUYp2Fk7
— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) November 20, 2023
Despite the push from the White House and the president, 75 percent of U.S. adults think the economy is in a “fair” or “poor” state while 61 percent of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Just 16 percent of Americans think the economy is improving while 56% of U.S. adults believe it is getting worse, according to a September YouGov Poll.
“Somebody slaps you in the face five times a minute and then all of a sudden they reduce the amount of slaps to twice a minute, you still get slapped in the face,” Mark R. Weaver, a GOP consultant, told the Daily Caller. “And the Biden White House is bragging about how inflation is going down. But it’s really just the growth curve of inflation that’s going down. Prices are still out of control and everyday Americans are panicked about being able to pay their bills. And trying to put a gloss on that shows how Joe Biden really is.”
Another fixture of Biden’s presidency is his EV tax credit program, which establishes a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles and is a part of his landmark legislative success, the Inflation Reduction Act. Largely promoted by Biden and his administration, Americans are still unaware of what the initiative is — about 40% of Americans know “nothing at all” about the president’s EV tax credit, according to an October BlueLabs Analytics poll.
On my watch, the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified.
And now, through a tax credit, you can get up to $7,500 on a new electric vehicle. pic.twitter.com/n3iZ9etL4A
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 30, 2023
Twenty-two percent of Americans have heard “a great deal” or “a good amount” about Biden’s electric vehicle tax credits, the BlueLabs Analytics poll shows. Just 10% of Americans said they would purchase an electric vehicle while 39% would not.
“Most people don’t want an electric vehicle. Joe Biden and his friends are going to force it on them like some cold plate of broccoli and we’re gonna say it’s good for you. Just eat it. It’s really rather silly,” Weaver told the Daily Caller. “There’s a reason why there’s no tax breaks to buy an iPhone. Because people want to buy them. But you have to give a tax break to electric vehicles because few people want them. And Joe Biden is desperate to have people buy them.”
Throughout Ukraine’s war with Russia, the Biden administration has not wavered on its support for the country, though the American people’s support for such funding to Ukraine has continued to slip. Thirty-five percent of Americans disagree with the United States sending weapons to Ukraine, 24 percent are unsure of what should be done and 41 percent think weapons should be sent, according to an Oct. 5 Reuters/Ipsos poll. Support for Ukraine has declined; 46 percent of Americans backed sending weapons and 29 percent were opposed to doing so in May. (RELATED: ‘Use The Crisis’: Republicans Balk At Biden’s Attempt To Exploit Israel For Ukraine Funding)
U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky after a meeting in the East Room of the White House September 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The American people are also breaking with Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Thirty-two percent of Americans believe “the U.S. should support Israel,” a nine-point drop from October, a November Reuters/Ipsos poll shows. About 43 precent of Americans do not want the United States to send more weapons to Israel while 31% think more weapons should be sent.
Biden is losing the American people on a variety of issues, and it all stems from his handling of the economy, Jennings told the Daily Caller. Jennings said it’s clear the White House is becoming frustrated with the American people for not buying into its messaging.
“When that’s your daily experience as a American citizen [at the grocery store] and you hear the president saying something that completely is divorced from your reality, not only do you lose confidence in him on that topic, you begin to lose confidence in him on every topic because you start to wonder, ‘well, he doesn’t even know what my experience is on inflation, how could he possibly have any of these other problems under control?’” Jennings told the Daily Caller.