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.
“That’s why he has remained focused on taking action against corporate greed, price gouging, and hidden junk fees to lower prices and give families more breathing room,” White House spokesman Jeremy Edwards told the Washington Examiner. “While special interests are trying to stop these efforts and keep prices high, often with the support of congressional Republicans, major companies are already answering the president’s call to lower prices.”
Simultaneously, while Third Way economic program Senior Vice President Gabriel Horwitz encouraged Biden to scrutinize businesses that price gouge, he discouraged the “far too many” Democrats who would prefer the party to be perceived as anti-business.
“We need to make sure that rules and regulations and courts and everything is thrown at them to get them to stop, but Democrats are vulnerable on the economy because voters believe we don’t care about economic growth, we don’t value hard work, and they don’t think we understand business,” Horwitz told the Washington Examiner. “There’s really a lane there for all Democrats, but really President Biden, when he talks about this, you know, talking about giving workers the opportunity to earn a good life and making sure that our businesses are competitive and successful here because when American businesses are successful, American workers are successful.”
“He talks about that, but there’s many in the party that like to sway a little bit more left,” he said. “A Democrat can be both pro-business and pro-worker. We fundamentally think that, and voters want that, especially these swing voters we need to win. I think if Democrats are overweighted on just the Left, populist, anti-business, it doesn’t necessarily serve them in the places that they need to win.”
Republicans traditionally have a polling edge over Democrats on the economy. But former President Barack Obama, for example, was able to overcome an economic polling deficit during his reelection campaign because he was more likeable than 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, according to Gallup data.
To that end, Seeberger, of the Center for American Progress Action, is encouraging Biden to draw a “sharper contrast” with Trump, particularly regarding his tax cut proposals for wealthy people and businesses. But for Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation senior fellow Darrell West, Biden should demonstrate more empathy “so voters know he cares and will fight for them.”
“If people believe he is indifferent or not caring, he will lose the election,” West told the Washington Examiner. “He doesn’t have to have a great economy to win, but he must show voters he understands their pain.”
A White House official added Biden’s economic policies are “about building a stronger middle class, and we will continue [to] meet people where they are to share that vision, emphasizing the president’s fight against corporate greed, historic record of economic and job growth, and his forward-looking agenda, specifically because he recognizes many Americans are still struggling to pay their bills.”
On the campaign side, Biden spokesman Charles Lutvak amplified the president’s trip to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in April to discuss the economy and ads the team has made with a similar message.
“Voters want a president who fights for them and takes on corporate greed — Joe Biden is doing that relentlessly and effectively, while Donald Trump has consistently put his billionaire donors and big corporations ahead of the middle class,” Lutvak told the Washington Examiner. “Voters are better off than they were four years ago, and they will be better off four years from now under President Biden, who will continue to tackle junk fees instead of selling out working families, supercharging inflation, and shipping jobs to China like Donald Trump will if he’s elected.”
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Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is attempting to create its own contrast, arguing that “inflation was nonexistent, gasoline was cheap, groceries were affordable, and the American dream was alive and well” under the former president.
“Due to Joe Biden’s out-of-control spending, prices are still nearly 20% higher than they were four years ago, gas prices have hit record highs, and wages are not keeping up with the increasing pace of inflation,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Washington Examiner. “Americans trust President Trump on the issue of the economy because they know his pro-growth, pro-energy, low-tax agenda will reduce inflation and put more money in their pockets, and that’s why President Trump is crushing Joe Biden in nearly every single poll.”