When it comes to the economy, unhappy voters are telling Republicans one very clear thing: “Remember why we elected you. Fix the Biden economy.”  

Surveys have shown that since the 2024 election, the electorate has moved from overwhelmingly preferring Republicans to handle the economy to moving sharply toward Democrats. Given that Republicans won the D.C. trifecta — the House, Senate and presidency — because of serious voter dissatisfaction with the Biden economy, this partisan about-face should be ringing alarm bells for the GOP and it is. 

In the most recent Winning the Issues (WTI) survey (Sept. 12-16), voters had more confidence in Democrats to handle the economy over Republicans by a 46-39 percent margin. 

For some context, in the WTI 2024 post-election survey, Republicans held an 11-point advantage on the economy. In that same survey, Republicans had a 12-point lead on handling inflation. Today, it’s Democrats with a significant 12-point advantage on inflation.  

While the electorate remains extremely unhappy with the performance of the Biden economy, they are also frustrated with the current state of play as gas prices rise and food costs remain stubbornly high. 

Back in January, 46 percent of the electorate thought the economy was getting better but was evenly split (23-23) between those who thought the economic progress was acceptable versus those who thought the progress was not acceptable. 

Now, 35 percent of voters say there has been progress, with only 10 percent saying the progress was acceptable and 25 percent unacceptable. 

Obviously, the conflict with Iran drove gas prices higher, which triggered most of that shift. But prior to that, voters had attributed........

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