The stories quickly reached the White House Office of Digital Strategy, which used the meme to address the country’s economic woes, according to a White House official who asked not to be named to reflect internal discussions. It is said to be one of many examples of exaggeration. Indeed, inflation has steadily subsided, with the government reporting last week that price increases eased again in October. As of this summer, the average price of a Big Mac nationwide was $5.58, up from $4.89, or about 70 cents, before Biden took office, according to one report. index Maintained by The Economist. The price went up more than 10%, but it didn’t reach $16.
Yet 11 months ago, an unusual price at an Idaho store flashed across people’s social media feeds as if it explained the entire economy. “What should we do? Send a tweet to the president or Charles E. Schumer that says, ‘Hey, most Big Macs aren’t like that,'” said one Democratic Party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. All you have to do is tell me,” he said. expensive? ‘That would look ridiculous. ” A McDonald’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Big Mac’s conundrum reflects what Biden aides and Democratic leaders consider one of the most vexing challenges ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Even though inflation has fallen to a manageable 3% and the labor market remains hot amid strong growth, voters still don’t like the economy and criticize the president.
Overcoming this dissatisfaction and understanding its causes has become a central priority for the White House and Democratic lawmakers, sparking heated debate among economists, pollsters, and other experts. .
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has been holding internal meetings with communications and economic officials over the past few weeks as the administration looks for ways to improve its economic messaging, according to two people familiar with the matter. He spoke on the condition that the event had been held. Anonymity is required to discuss the discussion. (The White House press secretary declined to comment.)
Former President Donald Trump has made ridiculing Biden’s economic record one of his key campaign messages, further increasing interest in the White House.
The administration continues to struggle with how to respond to negative opinion polls.
But administration officials say Mr. Biden’s economic accomplishments, including a booming job market, deserve more recognition. Significant wage increases for low-income workers. They say the rapid economic growth is a result of the 2021 economic stimulus package and other legislative measures. Many strategists and party officials argue that Americans will not recognize Biden’s accomplishments unless the president and his allies talk about those accomplishments.
When asked by CNBC on Monday about economic dissatisfaction with the president among young voters, Treasury Secretary Janet L. I think it’s our job to explain this to the people.” economy. “
Still, some aides are concerned about forcing Mr. Biden to be an economic cheerleader in a way that appears unrelated to public grievances. White House officials won’t be quick to dismiss the pain of inflation, which Yellen also highlighted on Monday, but some voters see the suggestion that they simply don’t understand their situation as elitist and condescending. It is considered a thing. Some pollsters and other Democrats say Mr. Biden is more focused on criticizing big business and the Republican Party for making the economic situation worse for average Americans, rather than risking seeming off base. It is argued that the water should be poured.
One Democratic consultant, who has been pressuring White House officials to stop touting economic achievements and instead damage the Republican economic plan, said: “Are you going to claim success or contrast yourself with Republicans? There is a huge difference of opinion within the organization as to whether or not it should be depicted.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “I don’t know how long I can keep doing this and expect a different result.”
The debate centers on the extent to which social media and perceptions are fueling voter anxiety, rather than the actual state of the economy.
There is at least some evidence that the digital world paints a darker picture than the statistics support.
Digital marketing consultant Brendan Gahan said TikTok data shows conversations around #economiccollapse peaked last month, generating tens of millions of views. Although inflation has cooled significantly, growth remains strong and unemployment is near record lows.
TikTok is full of misleading and inaccurate information about the economy. One video of his in September was viewed 2.3 million times He said there was a “quiet recession.” Another video from this summer has been viewed 2.1 million times claimedincorrectly stated that “our purchasing power is the lowest in American history” and claimed that wages, adjusted for inflation, were lower than they were then. (In fact, per capita disposable income, adjusted for inflation, is more than five times what it was in 1930.) The third video has been viewed 1.8 million times. false claims“We make less money now than we did at the height of the Great Depression.” There are dozens of videos of this type on TikTok and YouTube making similarly false claims.
Brian Hanley, CEO of Blish Studio, a financial media company that works with content creators, said it will be difficult for Biden to overcome this narrative, no matter how many charts and numbers he has in his entourage. . provide.
“We live in a world of reply guys and we’re throwing water at people. [including the president] It’s about getting more engagement, and more engagement equals more money,” Hanley said.
Some economists think this kind of comment is not only wrong, but dangerous. They are surprised by polling data and consumer sentiment surveys about Biden’s economic support, with results during the Biden administration similar to those during the Great Recession, when the unemployment rate was nearly three times what it is now. These economists fear that these exaggerated stories will ultimately lead to an even worse outcome, perhaps helping Trump’s re-election, and that this, in many ways, will make the U.S. It is important to make clear that this is one of the best economic recoveries in modern history. They also expressed confusion as to why consumers continue to spend so much, if the pessimism is caused by economic anxiety.
White House officials said the administration is working with TikTok creators to tell a positive story about Biden’s management of the economy, while also working with social media platforms to counter misinformation.
“People have been buying hamburgers at the wrong price throughout history, including economists. Every other time I looked at the hamburger and the bill and said, ‘Oh, there’s more addition and subtraction. “I wish I had done that,” says Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan. “But at this point, we instead say, ‘Wow, I hate this economy.’ People are looking at everything they buy through that lens.”
Will Stancil, a researcher at the Metropolitan Opportunity Institute, said the problem goes far beyond TikTok, noting that the media also focuses disproportionately on negative news. He said Republican voters turned on the economy as soon as Biden was elected, but that’s not a sign of the underlying situation.
Stancil argued that it’s not a conspiracy theory to believe that the media ecosystem is distorting people’s views, especially given how difficult it is to assess the national economic situation from personal experience.
“This has a lot to do with the social and media environment that young people live in. People’s ideas about things they can’t experience directly, such as the economy, are constructed from what they hear from others. , from what they hear from peers, trusted sources, the news media, etc.,” Stancil said, noting that while people can have their own experiences with the economy, it’s hard to get a comprehensive picture of the economy individually. He argued that it cannot be formed. “People start incorporating it into their worldview.”
But other experts and even some Democratic officials see political risks in this approach. One reason for this is that voter dissatisfaction is driven by a real deterioration in people’s conditions, even if sometimes rhetoric tends to be excessive, especially on the Internet.
Inflation has subsided, but prices continue to rise and wages remain below their pre-pandemic trajectory. Millions of voters suddenly find themselves in a worse economic situation than they were a year ago as trillions of dollars in coronavirus aid expire and evictions and student loan payments resume. confronting.
In fact, from 2015 to 2021, more than half of the countries saw their disposable income increase compared to the previous year. But inflation and the disappearance of coronavirus aid have reversed that number. Matt Brunig, founder of the People’s Policy Project, a think tank that supports expanding the welfare state, says that in 2022, at the same time that voters believe the economy is worsening, nearly 60% of Americans will have less income than last year. It is said that he did. .
“The economy is clearly in good shape, and the claim that dissatisfaction with the economy is necessarily rooted in bad motives and the constant shifting of the goalposts is really just lazy commentary,” Brunig wrote. Ta.
other problems too Fueling economic frustration: High interest rates are putting the dream of homeownership out of reach for millions of people. Increased rent for everyone else. Factors include persistently high food prices.
Wages are starting to rise slightly faster than prices as inflation subsides, but compared to their pre-pandemic trajectory, inflation-adjusted wages are far below where they should be, said Harvard economist Jason.・This was revealed by Mr. Fuhrman’s calculations. A top official in the Obama administration. (This number varies depending on which pre-pandemic year is used for comparison.)
Jordan Uhl, a content creator and progressive activist, said it’s no wonder TikTok, which has a disproportionately large population of young people and hourly workers, is attracting complaints about the economy.
“When a report says inflation is slowing, it means everything is fine and everyone who feels otherwise is either lying or being brainwashed by TikTok. There are some executives who are obsessed with paperwork that keeps up with numbers.” He said. “The idea that people are just making things up or that they are misinformed about their material circumstances is ridiculous.”
Zaid Admani, a content creator who posts about financial and economic topics and has around 400,000 followers, said people are increasingly learning about financial concepts on TikTok, but many are learning about the country’s economy. He said he had a very negative view of the outlook.
“People are scared,” he says.