Voters Want the Biden Administration to Take Action on Inflation
By Devi Ruia, Lew Blank, and David Guirgis
Despite overall economic growth in the first year of the Biden Administration, the coronavirus pandemic has led to economic anxieties among voters. A burgeoning labor movement — from resignations en masse to a large number of labor strikes in 2021 — has at times been blamed for the inflation setting voters’ pocketbook anxieties ablaze. But new Data for Progress polling finds that voters take a more nuanced view of the state of the economy, and that these voters want the Biden Administration to make renewed investments in manufacturing and the economy to resolve the current crisis.
First, while voters at large attribute inflation to both supply chain disruptions and current labor shortages, voters primarily view supply chain shortages as more responsible. Almost half of voters surveyed — 46 percent — believe that supply chain disruptions contributed a great deal to inflation, while only 39 percent of voters believe that labor shortages contributed a great deal. Along these lines, 21 percent of voters think labor shortages did not contribute very much or at all to inflation, while only 14 percent believe the same about supply chain disruptions.
Voters also see a range of solutions to fixing inflation, all of which involve renewed investments by the Biden Administration in the economy. Eighty-four percent of voters believe that investing in new American factories that would make up for the supply chain shortfall would contribute a great deal or a fair amount to resolving the pocketbook crisis. Similarly, over three-quarters of voters — 76 percent — support allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs, easing the burden of cost on consumers struggling with inflation. In addition, voters widely support investments in job training and benefits, as well as new investments in American clean energy technologies. These policy proposals are particularly popular provisions of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, landmark legislation that would provide the kind of critical investments in our economy that voters are looking for.
But while passage of the Build Back Better Act remains uncertain, the Biden Administration has an opportunity to pass bipartisan legislation that would immediately rectify some of the supply chain shortages that have led to inflation. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), a bill proposed by President Biden and members of Congress, is designed to boost domestic manufacturing of semiconductors, a critical component of the supply chain. We find that voters support USICA by a +57-point margin, including Democrats by a +75-point margin, Independents by a +58-point margin, and Republicans by a +36-point margin.
We also find that voters strongly support the Biden Administration’s actions to combat inflation, including USICA, along with investments in the meatpacking industry and efforts to keep the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach operating. Voters support the actions taken by President Biden by a +54-point margin, including Democrats by a +77-point margin, Independents by a +54-point margin, and Republicans by a +30-point margin.
It’s clear that voters want the Biden Administration to continue to make economic investments to combat inflation. Additionally, it’s clear that voters strongly support USICA, especially as a tool for combating inflation. Congress must work to pass USICA to make necessary investments in critical components of the American supply chain.