(The Center Square) Amid a growing number of self-inflicted crises and perpetual mismanagement, a Morning Consult/POLITICO poll released Wednesday found that around 60% of all self-identified Democrats remained in strict denial about the root cause of the problem: the Biden administration.
Inflation has continued to rise in the last year, and new polling shows the majority of Americans—62%—blame Democratic policies for the growing problem.
The outcome is apt to put even more pressure on President Joe Biden to address the issue of his tanking public appeal heading into the 2022 midterm election cycle.
Whether he will pivot to a more rational stance, however, or double down on his capitulation to the radical leftist fringes remainst to be seen.
In blue states, where Democrats have successfully managed to pad their monolithic political power by hook or crook, the pressure to push through to the other side on a socialist re-imagining of America is unlikely to abate.
In fact, the poll revealed that only 41% of Democratic voters think Biden’s policies are the cause of inflation.
But those numbers are trending slightly to the Right, the poll noted.
“Sixty-two percent of voters blame the Biden administration’s policies for rising inflation, an increase of 3 percentage points from late July, when Morning Consult and Politico last polled on the question,” the survey said.
“Slight increases in the shares of Republicans (85 percent) and independents (61 percent) who hold the administration responsible fueled the uptick,” it continued. “About half of voters (48 percent) believe Americans’ return to pre-pandemic behaviors has contributed to the 13-year high in inflation, a 5-point decline from July.”
Federal economic data has shown inflation steadily rising, with much of that rise taking place during Biden’s term as new spending policies have flooded trillions of excess dollars into the economy, with many of Democrats’ pork projects being wasted on nonessential priorities.
Meanwhile, efforts to impose a Green New Deal agenda and harsher regulatory restrictions on key industries have driven up consumer costs related to things like food and energy.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released data earlier this month on personal consumption expenditures (PCE), a leading marker of inflation. Those figures showed the fastest increase in inflation in 30 years.
“The PCE price index for August increased 4.3 percent from one year ago, reflecting increases in both goods and services,” BEA said.
“Energy prices increased 24.9 percent and food prices increased 2.8 percent,” it continued. “Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index for August increased 3.6 percent from one year ago.”
International markets are taking notice.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently released its global economic analysis and significantly reduced growth predictions for the U.S., from 6.9% to 6% for 2021. In their analysis, one key reason for the downgrade was rising inflation.
“Inflation has risen sharply in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and some emerging-market economies, but remains relatively low in many other advanced economies, particularly in Europe and Asia,” the report said.
“G20 consumer price inflation is projected to moderate from 4½ per cent at the end of 2021 to around 3½ per cent by the end of 2022, remaining above the rates seen prior to the pandemic,” it added. “Supply pressures should fade gradually, wage growth remains moderate and inflation expectations are still anchored, but near-term risks are on the upside.”
Many, however, regard that gradual fading as an overly rosy projection since Democrats continue to push the same reckless policies that ushered in the crisis to begin with.
The rising costs of goods have become thorn in the side of many Democrats, though the Biden administration has said the inflation will be “transitory.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has cited concerns over inflation as a key reason for his refusal to support the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill pushed by the White House.
“Now Democratic congressional leaders propose to pass the largest single spending bill in history with no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt or the inevitability of future crises,” Manchin said in a September opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
“Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation,” he added. “A pause is warranted because it will provide more clarity on the trajectory of the pandemic, and it will allow us to determine whether inflation is transitory or not.”
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
