‘BIDENOMICS’ | Why is the President touting this phrase? 

By Colby Etherton

Lately, President Biden has been hitting the campaign trail emphasizing “Bidenomics†and how it’s helped the country make progress against inflation, unemployment, moving past the pandemic, and more. It’s a moniker similar to “Reaganomics†that is meant to be a marketing tool, encompassing all of Biden’s accomplishments as he makes appearances across the country to tout his record and make the case for a second term. 

Whether or not Biden can take credit for everything that “Bidenomics†encompasses, it’s a term tying the improving conditions of the country to his administration.  

Unemployment is at a low of 3.6 percent nationally, which appears to be tied to the pandemic slowly entering the rear-view mirror and most people being able to return to work. Many Americans are experiencing wage growth, and inflation has gone down from over 9 percent to just under 3 percent. Furthermore, the president is underscoring his legislative wins — American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure package, and more — as aiding the economy.  

Despite the fact that inflation is going down, unemployment is low and wages have increased, Americans as a whole feel uneasy about the economy and overall disapprove of Biden’s economic performance. The disconnect is fascinating but perhaps tied into the magnitude of historical events that the world has faced over the past couple of years, where people are inherently more anxious and pessimistic than before. It’s unclear if Bidenomics will catch on and become the bumper sticker slogan that Biden and his team want it to be (especially if the economy takes a downturn). Currently, he and his team are hedging their bets that using this term is the better play contrasted with naming a laundry list of accomplishments that require long-winded explanations. 

Presidential elections tend to ultimately be a referendum on the state of the economy, so the disconnect between people’s feelings and the objective improvements that have been made will be compelling if these feelings remain persistent leading into 2024, and improvements continue to be made. In what is increasingly looking like a retread of 2020 with Biden and Trump facing off yet again, despite Biden’s economic numbers being in the negatives, he’s in better shape than the former president as his indictments ramp up (with more potentially looming involving January 6), and the saliency of Roe v Wade being overturned last year as a strong motivator for Democratic and independent voters.