President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon is slated to deliver what the White House has billed as a “major economic address on Bidenomics vs. MAGAnomics,” with the speech coming as polls show most Americans disapprove of his handling of the U.S. economy.
Biden’s remarks, due to come around 2:45 p.m. Eastern, will “lay out the very clean contrast between Bidenomics and the congressional Republicans’ trickle-down economic plan — a plan that has failed working families every time it’s been tried,” said Jared Bernstein, who chairs the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, during a White House press briefing on Wednesday.
Bernstein said that GOP lawmakers support “unfair taxes” and “increased costs for families,” and said that Biden will “highlight what’s at stake for families as fiscal and budget debates take center stage in the weeks and months ahead.”
A divided Washington looks on track to deliver a partial government shutdown after Sept. 30, when the federal government’s new fiscal year starts. Analysts at Height Capital Markets on Thursday raised their probability for a shutdown to 90% from 80%, citing demands from the House Freedom Caucus, a hardline GOP group, that look “un-meetable.”
See: House Freedom Caucus talks tough as government shutdown could hit in 2½ weeks
Biden appears to have a tough sales job as he pitches his economic policies. Just 34% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy vs. 59% who disapprove, according to a poll out Wednesday from Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School and USA Today. That survey also found more Americans said they trust former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican primary, than the Democratic incumbent to improve the economy by a 47%-36% margin.
Other polls have had similar findings, with one from the Wall Street Journal revealing that three in five voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 63% don’t like how he has handled inflation.
Related: CPI shows biggest increase in U.S. inflation in 14 months
Charlie Cook, founder of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said in a National Journal column earlier this week that it’s “hard to look at recent survey data and not question whether his re-election bid really is such a good idea.”
Other columnists have offered comparable takes this week, with the Washington Post’s David Ignatius writing Tuesday that Biden should not run again. The president’s supporters have blasted such columns, and the White House has highlighted surveys that show strong approval for policies such as Biden’s move to cap insulin costs for seniors and his effort to give Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices.
The president’s speech on Thursday is scheduled to take place at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland, just outside the Capital Beltway.
U.S. stocks
SPX
DJIA
were gaining Thursday as traders assessed strong U.S. economic data and what the latest figures could mean for the Federal Reserve, which has been raising interest rates to fight inflation.
Now read: Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott says he wants to put the focus on tax cuts
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