Naomi Lim of the Washington Examiner reports on Democrats’ contrasting ideas for improving the president’s re-election prospects.
Democrats are not entirely on the same page regarding President Joe Biden’s economic talking points, with the economy poised to be the No. voter 1 issue of the 2024 election.
Democrats disagree over how much Biden should criticize businesses for their contributions to increased consumer prices so he does not portray himself as anti-business and anti-economic growth as polling indicates voters are down on the economy.
Democrats, such as Center for American Progress Action communications senior adviser Colin Seeberger and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), are encouraging Biden to pick fights with corporations and label them as greedy, as well as argue that former President Donald Trump would raise costs for families if he is reelected.
“Just as he has in taking on insulin manufacturers, he should call out by name companies like W.K. Kellogg or Kimberly-Clark who, respectively, continue to increase the price of groceries like cereal or diapers while at the same time citing increasing profits in quarterly earnings calls,” Seeberger told the Washington Examiner of the food manufacturer and the producer of Huggies disposable diapers.
Biden should also support lawsuits brought by state attorneys general, including Arizona’s Kris Mayes, who is suing property management software company RealPage for allegedly illegally conspiring with landlords to raise rent costs, according to Seeberger.
“By picking these fights, he can show working-class and blue-collar voters that he understands the affordability challenges they’re grappling with every single day,” Seeberger said. “One of the best examples of this working in the president’s favor was when he became the first president in American history to stand on a picket line and demand the Big Three cut autoworkers in on the massive profits they helped generate.”
The White House defended Biden’s economic messaging, contending the president acknowledges “the American people are tired of being taken advantage of and being played for suckers” as Schumer and other Democrats, for example, seek the prosecution of oil conglomerates for price gouging.
