Coming into the 2024 election it was no secret that Americans weren’t happy with the economy. However was that simply their perception or did the Biden administration truly fail on this front?
As the administration throughout the majority of Covid, Biden and Harris have taken the blame for many of the key problems brought out by Covid and some of the unavoidable downsides. After 10 years of consistent economic growth, the significant downturn in 2020 came as an economic shock for many Americans. Additionally, many lost their jobs with businesses closing or cutting many workers to try and survive.
However, while the Biden administration was in control for the majority of Covid, Americans tend to forget he wasn’t actually inaugurated until January of 2021, so many of these initial challenges weren’t faced by him, but by the Trump administration.
The main issue with the economy that Americans seem concerned with is inflation. During 2021-2022 there was rampant inflation due to both Biden and Trump’s decisions to issue millions of stimulus checks to Americans in an attempt to keep them afloat while seeking new jobs. This was crucial in trying to cut unemployment; however, it became a massive issue after the unemployment crisis as Americans could feel their money decreasing in value in real time, with the inflation rate spiking to 9.1% at its peak according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the Biden administration tried their best to combat the high unemployment rate brought on by the initial mishandling of the situation, Americans didn’t see it that way, with many citing inflation and the economy as their number one issue in the 2024 election.
Source: University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Fed found that, “while inflation perceptions lined up with how inflation was going in 2021-2022 they didn’t come back down with the inflation rate in 2023.”
What this essentially means is that while Americans did accurately notice prices going up, they didn’t notice how prices were decreasing or staying relatively stagnant in 2023-2024. This is likely due to many basing their view of the inflation rate on everyday goods like groceries which are extremely volatile in price.
“I noticed my parents complaining about gas prices more and I saw that some produce prices went up significantly in the last four years,” said Donovan Mirabal, student at New Hartford.
Donovan is a good example of the average American citizen who noticed their wallet being hurt in the past four years. While gas prices have gone way down from their peak in 2022, it still stands out in Donovan’s mind.
I think this is representative of many voters: while prices have mellowed out, they still remember how it felt back in 2021-2022 with everything being super expensive. In reality the Biden administration did a fairly good job at handling the high inflation rate; however, it simply doesn’t matter as many only remember how bad things once were.
This isn’t just a problem in the U.S. either. Across the globe we’ve seen an increase in social unrest and people thrusting incumbents from office because of their views of the economy and the impact brought by Covid. An article in Fortune revealed that, “incumbents have been ousted in 40 of 54 elections in Western democracies.”
People simply want a change, no matter what shape that change may come in. In places like France, Korea, and Britain incumbents were defeated, with even the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party being beaten out after having been in office since 1955.
Everyone dislikes it when they feel their money is being devalued and essentially cut no matter where they’re from. This issue makes people desperate for change and Americans saw that in this election. While Biden and Harris did the best they could under the circumstances, they simply couldn’t overcome the narrative attaching them to the crippled economy and the disasters of Covid.
