“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” That sounds like it could have come from one of our present-day progressive liberals. But the truth is, the quote is from Vladimir Lenin.
According to a poll of more than 1,000 adults conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News, 94% of Americans are either “upset” or “concerned” about the impact of uncontrollable inflation.
The poll used a question like this: “Thinking about the current rate of inflation, meaning rising prices – is this something you are upset about, concerned about but not upset, or not concerned about?”
44% of the adults that responded said they were “upset” about inflation. There was another 50% that said they were “concerned but not upset.” And only 6% responded that they were not concerned about inflation.
The poll also asked people what their opinion was of how President Joe Biden was doing as president. 52% of those who responded said that they did not approve of Biden’s job performance, and only 42% said that they approved of the president’s performance.
There were significantly stronger negative emotions expressed about Biden than there were positive. Of the 42% who approved of the job the president is doing, only 21% strongly approved, and 21% just “somewhat” approved of his job as president.
The intensity was worse for the president with those who disapproved of his job performance. 41% strongly disapproved of Biden’s job as president while only 10% just “somewhat” disapproved.
When people were asked about specific issues in the Biden presidency, things got worse for Joe. The only issue where a majority of people approved of what Biden had done was his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. A meager 51% of people gave him their approval with 43% disapproving.
Biden saw low numbers on every other issue including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, job creation, handling the economy, and inflation.
American’s really disapproved of the financial issues. There were 57% of the respondents disapproved of the president’s handling of the economy. And there were 68% of the respondents disapproved of the way Biden is dealing with inflation.
This part of the poll likely sent shivers down the spine of the Democratic Party. Respondents were asked which party they trusted more on the key issues. The GOP garnered double-digit leads in the people’s trust on the key issues.
But this was not just true with inflation and the economy. 47% of the people said that they trusted the Republicans more on crime, while only 35% gave the nod of trust to the Democratic Party. The Republicans were also in the front on handling immigration.
As in the past, elections will be won or last on economic issues. Consumer inflation increases 8.5% annually between March 2021 and March 2022. This is the highest increase in 41 years. Wholesale inflation was even worse. It rose 11.5% annually over the same period. This is the highest producer inflation rate on record. The Federal Reserve uses the Personal Consumption Index to record inflation. This rose 6.6 annually, which is another 40-year record.
Ronald Reagan once said, “Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.” Biden is feeling the blows and his approval rating continues to be plundered. Earlier this month, the president’s approval rating dropped to its lowest yet.
Can the country survive two more years of this? Let’s hope the midterms give us a breather.
