By the Republican National Committee

EVERYTHING COSTS MORE THANKS TO BIDEN

• The latest Consumer Price Index data shows year-over-year inflation increased in March by 3.5 percent – twice the rate compared to when Biden took office and higher than expected.
  •  Inflation has been at or above 3 percent for 36 straight months, well above the Fed’s average target of 2 percent.
  • Core consumer prices – stripping out food and energy – rose by 3.8 percent, also above expectations.
• Inflation has risen by 19.4 percent since Biden took office – with Americans still reeling from the lasting effects of inflation.
  • On a year-over-year basis, inflation under Biden has averaged 5.5 percent – more than double the level of inflation seen under any of the last four presidents.
  • Groceries are up 21.1 percent, rent is up 20.9 percent, and electricity is up 28.3 percent since Biden took office.
• With persistent inflation having eaten away at wage gains, more and more Americans are struggling financially.
  • Bidenflation outpaced wages for a majority of Biden’s presidency – both year-over-year real average hourly earnings and real average weekly earnings were negative for 25 months.
• Real wages remain lower than when Biden first took office.
  • Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings were $397.90 when Biden took office and are now $382.20 – the BLS adjusts to 1982-1984 dollars – meaning Americans have seen a 3.9 percent pay cut under Biden.
    • Under President Trump, real average weekly wages rose 8.2 percent.

AMERICANS’ FINANCES ARE BEING DECIMATED

• Americans are suffering from the lasting effects of Biden’s historic inflation, with many struggling to pay their debts, save for retirement, or afford rent.
  • 78 percent of Americans reporting having to live paycheck to paycheck in 2023, up 6 percent from the previous year. 
  • 53 percent of Americans are behind on saving for retirement.
• The personal savings rate was 3.6 percent in February, well below a decades long average of roughly 8.9 percent.
• Bidenomics has cost the middle class $2.4 trillion since March 2022.
  • The average middle-class household has lost over $33,000 in real wealth in just the past year.
• Americans are increasingly borrowing to cover daily expenses, finding their regular income is no longer enough to make ends meet.
  • Total household debt is at an all-time high of $17.5 trillion.
  • Credit card debt recently hit a new record high of $1.13 trillion, while a quarter of Americans are putting less money towards paying down their debts.
  • 36 percent of Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings while 40 percent could not cover an emergency expense of $1,000.
  • JP Morgan predicts that nearly all Americans will be worse off financially by mid-2024 than they were pre-pandemic.
• Fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s are serving fewer low-income Americans as menu prices continue to increase.

THE COST OF LIVING IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY UNAFFORDABLE

• The Fed has hiked interest rates 11 times since March 2022 – now at their highest level in 22 years – making it harder for families to buy a home, finance a car, pay off debt, and perform various other financial transactions.
  • Thanks to higher interest rates, the monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home is twice as much as when Biden took office.
  • Rent affordability is the worst on record, with a new high of 22.4 million renter households considered cost-burdened.
  • Biden’s favorite economist – Moody’s Mark Zandi – said that purchasing a home or a car right now is “completely unaffordable for the typical American household.”
• U.S. average gas prices currently sit at $3.62 per gallon, which is more than $1.20 per gallon higher than when Biden became president.
  • Under Biden, the price of a gallon of gas has been above $3 for 1,064 days in a row. 
  • Americans have lost over $3,700 paying higher energy costs since Biden took office.

AMERICANS ARE NOT HAPPY WITH BIDEN’S ECONOMY

• American families are seeing higher prices for virtually everything, and they know exactly who to blame: Biden and Democrats.
• A majority of Americans rate the economy as poor, according to a New York Times poll.
• Only 38 percent of voters rate the economy as good, compared to 65 percent under Trump, according to CBS News.
• 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Biden is handling inflation and 53 percent disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy, according to an Economist/YouGov poll.
• 60 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the wrong track, 58 percent think the economy is weak, and 54 percent say their current personal economic situation is underwater, according to a Harvard-Harris poll.
• Fewer than four in 10 registered voters say Biden deserves to be reelected, according to Gallup.

DEMOCRATS’ RESPONSE TO THE INFLATION CRISIS BIDEN CREATED: MORE INFLATIONARY SPENDING

• As working-class families struggle to make ends meet thanks to inflation, voters know Democrats are to blame for rising prices.
• In 2021, Biden and Democrats passed their inflation-fueling $1.9 trillion “stimulus,” which even liberal economists admit fueled inflation.  
• In 2022, every single Democrat voted to pass the Bidenflation Scam, which experts say will worsen inflation and raise taxes on working-class Americans.
  • Studies from the Tax Foundation, Penn Wharton Budget Model, Moody’s, and the Congressional Budget Office all found that the bill will either make inflation worse or do basically nothing to bring down inflation.
  • The Tax Foundation concluded that the Bidenflation Scam Act will “worsen inflation especially in the first four” years.
• Biden recently unveiled his FY 2025 budget – a $7.3 trillion spending spree chock full of wasteful spending and the largest tax hike in history.

REPUBLICAN-LED STATES ARE DRIVING JOB GROWTH

• The latest state jobs report shows that 12 of the top 14 states for jobs recovered since the coronavirus pandemic began are led by Republican governors, and all 14 states have Republican-controlled legislatures.
  • Eight states have yet to fully recover jobs lost from the pandemic – five of which have Democrat governors and six of which have Democrat-controlled legislatures.
  • Out of the top 15 states with the lowest unemployment rates, 10 are led by Republican governors.
  • Mississippi, a Republican-controlled state, has been the only state to reach a new record low unemployment rate in 2024.
• The latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis found that nine of the top 10 states with the highest real GDP growth in the forth quarter of 2023 have Republican governors.
  • Eight of the top 10 states with the largest increases in personal income in the third quarter of 2023 are led by Republicans.

Originally posted here.