The Political Market does not look promising for President Biden

President Biden’s approval rating declined to a near-all-time low. New polls show that Biden’s approval rating dropped to 38%. Biden’s all-time low of 36% was in July of last year as Americans were increasingly dissatisfied with the state of the economy with gas prices soaring, and on the heels of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. 38% of approval rating means that 62% of the American people, for various reasons, do not like what President Joe Biden is doing as president and how he is leading the country. The presidential elections are approaching, and the political market does not look promising for President Biden. President Biden, throughout his presidency, did not make the 50%-approval rating threshold. On that note, he is not different from President Trump whose approval ratings were always below 50%. Why President Biden has been struggling so much? Why are the American people not convinced of his work and his presidency?

Joe Biden is struggling to reach the 50%-approval rating benchmark because his very election was not based on his program but on an Anti-Trump vote. When we look at the policies he proposed to implement if elected president, the substance of these policies was all in favor of more government and further restrictions of individual liberties. He proposed to increase taxes and to expand the powers of the federal government. The economy is, perhaps, the most fundamental concern the American people are the most preoccupied with. Let us not forget that the American Revolution was not a political revolution but an economic revolution. The American people revolted against England over tax matters, which are inherently economic matters. This emphasizes how important taxes, and the state of the economy is important to the American people. The economy precedes everything.

Under the leadership of President Trump, the economy was thriving until COVID-19 happened. Trump lost because the pandemic halted economic growth and he did not take the issue seriously. Had the pandemic not happened, Trump would have been reelected. President Obama has always had a high approval rating because of how his administration managed the economy. Under the leadership of President Biden, many things have happened that only worsened his presidency. Inflation soared, which increased the prices of goods and services. The American people blame President Biden for not having anticipated the market turmoil that the country is facing. Moreover, Biden wants to increase taxes. He claimed that the taxes he wants to increase will be on the very wealthy, but the market is currently far too fragile to handle a tax increase. Consumer spending is still high, but it is not high because people are wealthier but because people have to spend to make basic payments (mortgage, car loan, credit card debt, utility bills…etc.) to survive. This means people have to dig into their savings or take more debt to make these payments because everything is expensive. Increasing taxes is then not a smart solution because it will further reduce the net income of ordinary people who are already struggling to make ends meet because of inflation.

The War in Ukraine is another factor that led to the decline of Biden’s approval ratings. Biden was not able to contain Russia from invading Ukraine. Under Trump, the world did not engage in a major conflict. Russia and North Korea were far less threatening under his leadership than they are today. The War in Ukraine led to an augmentation of the money supply and to the debt ceiling. The billions of dollars were supplied to Zelensky while the ordinary citizens still have low purchasing power and still struggling to pay their bills. Biden is considering running for a second term, but the political market does not look favorable to his reelection. Many Democrats have been quietly preparing themselves for 2024, and his presidential records are confirming more and more that he might be a one-term president.