Democrats hope Biden spending bills win over voters

By most economic metrics, American businesses are staging a remarkable rebound from the Covid-19 recession. But ask the people themselves, and Americans tell you they aren’t feeling so peachy.

Employers added more than half a million jobs in October, the unemployment rate is under 5% and spending across the economy is returned to its pre-coronavirus trend. The average hourly wage in the U.S. is up nearly 5% from a year ago, and the S&P 500 is up 39% since President Joe Biden’s election in 2020.

But for all the good news, Americans still feel like the economy is going downhill.

That is a problem for Democrats, who are trying to hold on to razor-thin majorities in both the House and the Senate. That’s in addition to the usual uphill climb faced by a president’s party heading into a midterm election cycle, when the incumbent’s side often loses seats.

In a recent NBC News poll, 57% of American said they disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy, while just 40% said they approve. Meanwhile, an October Gallup study showed that 75% of Americans rate current economic conditions in the country as only fair (42%) or poor (33%), while 68% say the economy is worsening. Other polling shows that inflation and economic concerns are outpacing worries about Covid.

Democrats and Republicans agree that one economic phenomenon working against Democrats’ odds in 2022 is the recent rise in prices. As such, Democrats are expected to be laser-focused on their legislative achievements when they take to the campaign trail in 2022.

In essence, the party will try to persuade voters on a political gambit: That historic investments in infrastructure, antipoverty programs and climate initiatives are worth pesky but temporary inflation, says Raymond James Washington policy analyst Ed Mills.

“Democrats are likely facing those headwinds regardless of what they do, so they are looking to arm incumbents with a list of accomplishments,” Mills wrote in an email.

Democrats hope their recent legislative successes including the $1 trillion infrastructure package will help ease any resentment voters feel about rising prices, which has in recent months driven up the cost of everything from gasoline to groceries.

Wages may be up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis, but the Labor Department’s consumer price index — one of the most popular inflation gauges — was up 5.4% in the 12 months ending in September. That is about the same rate as seen in June and July, all of which are the highest in over a decade. The government is scheduled to release October 2021 CPI data on Wednesday.

That means that many Americans have seen their real wage and purchasing power decline over the past 12 months. Many simply cannot buy as many gallons of gas, cartons of eggs or barrels of home heating oil as they could one year ago.

The national average per-gallon…