This week’s White House report card finds President Joe Biden in a familiar spot, under fire in approval polls but buoyed by a few economic indicators that suggest a less bumpy landing of the recession.
On the polls front, his approval rating remains bad. And there are more surveys showing the public worried about his age and control of the job. For the first time, Rasmussen Reports said a majority believe that Biden is not in charge and that others are pulling the strings for him.
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On the economic front, inflation remains high and GDP low, but Friday’s better-than-expected jobs numbers salved those wounds. Still, there has been no progress — or presidential activity — on solving the pending debt ceiling crisis.
Our conservative grader, analyst Jed Babbin, noted Biden’s absenteeism on the debt crisis, his weak planning for the coming surge of illegal immigrants on the border, and woke military in grading the week a D-minus.
Our grader on the left, pollster John Zogby, is a numbers guy, and he focused on the economy in grading the week a B.
Jed Babbin
Grade: D-
If anyone’s paying attention, President Joe Biden has until June 1 to prevent a default on America’s debt, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Biden is still refusing to negotiate spending reductions with House Republicans. This should be no surprise in a week that otherwise featured another big bank collapse, a move of about 1,500 troops to the southern border, and the Navy using a drag queen to recruit new sailors.
At least since early April, the Treasury has been doing accounting backflips to try to keep borrowing to fund the ravenous beast of the federal government. It’s running out of accounting tricks, and a default on the debt is a real possibility. Biden has always refused to negotiate spending cuts as the price for raising the debt limit. Now he’s trying to maintain that refusal and blame House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for a coming default. It won’t wash. If there is any default, even the tiniest, the dollar will be severely damaged, as will our credibility across the world. If it happens, it will be Biden’s fault.
The Fed raised interest rates another quarter point, likely resulting in more bank failures and a further depression of the housing market. Inflation continues, caused by Biden’s reckless spending.
Biden’s dispatch of troops to the southern border will not presage any attempt to bar the flood of illegals that are coming after next week’s end of the Title 42 health restrictions. The troops will be used for administration of the open border while Biden’s team opens offices in Mexico intended to “reduce” the number of illegal aliens — not by reducing the number that comes into the U.S. — but by fictitiously converting them to “legal” status.
If that all weren’t enough, the Navy has followed in the not-so-successful footsteps of Bud Light in adopting a conventional recruiter. To top off the week, Vice President Kamala Harris was appointed by Biden as the “AI czar,” tasked to protect us from the dangers of artificial intelligence. To say she’s unqualified for the task is the understatement of the year. At least so far.
John Zogby
Grade: B
I mainly go by numbers, not ideology and other pundits.
And there was good news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics about April. Nonfarm payrolls increased 253,000, beating Wall Street’s estimates for growth of 180,000. The unemployment rate was 3.4% against an estimate of 3.6% and tied for the lowest level since 1969. Average hourly earnings rose 0.5% for the month and increased 4.4% from a year ago, both higher than expected.
Yes, Americans are worried about their financial future, and many are living paycheck to paycheck. But according to the numbers we have been using for decades, things are getting better, and there has been no recession.
There was an acceleration in hiring and pay gains in April as working-age Americans continued streaming back into the labor market. This combination of rising employment and wages is helping to bolster the consumer. But banking problems are raising recession fears. While faster pay growth will keep the Federal Reserve concerned about inflationary pressures, it likely won’t be enough to force the Fed back into action after signaling earlier this week that its tightening cycle will probably pause for now.
Two approval polls this week showed President Joe Biden in the high 40s; one by a left-wing rag has him at 38%. A good week, even though folks still don’t want the president to run again.
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Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies.
