Joe Biden and Donald Trump 2024.
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More voters trust Donald Trump than President Joe Biden to tackle inflation and the cost of living, their top concerns for the U.S., according to the latest NBC News poll.
The poll of 1,000 registered voters nationwide found that 52% of respondents said Trump would better manage inflation and the cost of living, while 30% said the same about Biden.
The survey was conducted April 12-16, several days after the release of another higher-than-expected inflation report that suggested consumer prices were beginning to rise again. Trump attacked Biden’s economic policies immediately after the data was released.
As consumer prices rise again, the Biden administration has maintained its message on inflation and focused more attention on other aspects of the economy: jobs, tariffs and taxes.
Biden’s strong focus on these issues was evident as he made his rounds in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania last week.
During a speech Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Biden announced he would support tripling tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports, sharpening his growing economic aggressive stance toward China.
And a day earlier in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden focused on the tax code and jobs: “In all of American history, there are only two presidents on record who left office with fewer jobs than when they came into office: Herbert Hoover and, yes, Donald .” “Herbert Hoover” Trump.”
These speeches come after Biden spent months hammering the argument that corporations are to blame for stubbornly high prices and stubborn inflation. He accused the companies of price gouging and “shrinkflation,” the practice of selling fewer quantities of goods at the same price.
But as consumer prices fluctuate, Biden’s recent comments suggest he is trying to bring other economic issues and data to the forefront of voters’ minds.
For example, while Trump criticizes Biden’s economy, the president doubles down on the claim that the US has “the best economy in the world.” In fact, the United States ranks at the top of developed economies in key metrics such as gross domestic product and unemployment.
But voters are not easily distracted by their feelings about inflation and the cost of living.
Only 11% of respondents named “jobs and the economy” as the most critical issues facing the country ahead of the November election. Meanwhile, 23% of respondents, the largest share, said inflation and the cost of living were their biggest problems – and a majority said Trump would do better with them.
Overall, the NBC poll found Biden appears to be catching up to Trump’s lead, echoing a similar finding from a New York Times/Siena College poll earlier this month. The NBC poll showed Trump leading Biden by two points in a head-to-head matchup, smaller than his five-point lead in January. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.10%.
But voters’ rosy memory of the Trump economy was a fixture in early polls and continues to weigh on Biden’s momentum. Despite Biden’s efforts to shift the conversation back to other economic issues, inflation appears to remain an unavoidable obstacle to winning the public’s trust.
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2024-04-21 19:33:40
www.cnbc.com
