PHILADELPHIA—President Biden stood at the lectern of a shipyard here with a familiar pitch as he seeks a second White House term: The economy remains strong.
“It’s not an accident, it’s my economic plan in action," Biden told a crowd of mostly union workers Thursday at the latest stop on his nationwide record-burnishing tour. “Together, we’re transforming the country."
But many voters aren’t buying it. They say they haven’t felt the impact of legislation that’s the centerpiece of Biden’s campaign, and they cite what may be his main albatross—inflation. High prices have turned economic issues that could’ve been a tailwind for his re-election into a headwind.
“Inflation’s terrible. Everything’s more expensive than it was," said James Watson, 31 years old, an independent voter who manages a convenience store at a Philadelphia gas station.
Watson said he opposed former President Donald Trump, who is leading polls for the Republican presidential nomination, over his inflammatory comments on race and allegations of sexual assault. But he is likely to vote for a third-party candidate next year, as he did in 2020, because he’s concerned about Biden’s age and feels conditions in the country haven’t substantially improved since the 80-year-old took office.
That hesitation about Biden’s age and record explains why the incumbent is essentially tied in most polls with Trump, who remains unpopular and faces multiple criminal indictments, and why some Democrats worry a third-party ticket could attract enough swing votes to tip the election to the GOP.
Recent polls also show a disconnect between a buoyant labor market, which added 1.67 million jobs this year through June, and how voters feel about the economy. Robust consumer spending, inflation declining from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3% a year later and a stabilizing housing market have done little to move public perception on an issue that often ranks as a top priority for Americans at the ballot box.
A Monmouth University poll released Wednesday showed only three in 10 Americans feel the country is doing a better job recovering economically than the rest of the world since the Covid-19 pandemic. Respondents were split on Biden’s handling of jobs and unemployment, with 47% approving and 48% disapproving of his performance.
Many other surveys have also found voters giving Biden low marks on the economy. A Wall Street Journal poll in April found more people disapproved than approved of his handling of infrastructure by 3 points. Among those who were undecided in a hypothetical match between Biden and Trump, only 10% approved of Biden’s job performance on infrastructure whereas 70% disapproved.
Christopher Brown, who works on the warehouse-management system at Philly Shipyard where Biden spoke Thursday, is a registered Republican but voted for Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. This time around, the 34-year-old isn’t committed to supporting Biden again, in part because he believes the president’s economic record is mixed.
“I feel like I’m actually worse off today than I was two years ago, because of the inflation, because of the extra demand," said Brown, who lives in Willow Grove, Pa.
While Brown doesn’t blame Biden entirely for inflation, he believes some of the president’s policies have fueled price increases and feels burdened by the cost of his home, groceries and gasoline even though inflation has cooled in the past year. Brown does appreciate Biden’s investment in green energy, including offshore wind farms the president championed on Thursday.
In recent months, Biden has traveled to Ohio to promote a $1 billion project to restore the Great Lakes and funding to rehabilitate a bridge for commuters and freight between the state and Kentucky. He has highlighted federal investments toward an airport expansion in Boston, the Metro subway in Los Angeles and a rail tunnel underneath the Hudson River. And Biden has repeatedly traveled to Pennsylvania, a state that was critical to his 2020 victory over Trump, to discuss water repairs and fixes to the damaged Interstate 95.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are proud to run on a record that has lowered prescription drug costs for seniors, brought hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs back to the United States, and makes the wealthy pay their fair share," Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said. “Like he did in 2020, President Biden looks forward to earning every vote making the case for his economic agenda."
Biden’s aides, who often voice frustration in private that the president doesn’t get more credit for the economic gains under his watch, say they are aware of voters’ skepticism. The White House has leaned into the phrase “Bidenomics" in an effort to showcase how the president’s policies have benefited the middle class, and officials underscore that his legislative achievements poll well with the public.
Biden’s supporters say they expect more voters to pay closer attention as the race heats up. As the president picks up the pace of his campaign travel and floods the airwaves with advertisements highlighting the implementation of his policies, his support will increase, they added.
Michael Gillmer, 35, is a registered Republican who voted for Biden over Trump in 2020 and is leaning toward voting for Biden again. Gillmer, a portfolio manager in the financial-services industry, said the Republican Party had moved too far to the right on social issues and credited Biden’s policies with creating jobs in North Carolina, where Gillmer is based.
Biden traveled to the state in March to tour the Durham-based company Wolfspeed, which had announced a $5 billion investment in semiconductor manufacturing that will create an estimated 1,800 jobs. It plans to seek federal funding from the Chips and Science Act that Biden signed to help underwrite the costs of its expansion.
Despite the project, Gillmer said many undecided voters in his community don’t believe Biden is responsible for such achievements.
“I think he should get credit, but he doesn’t," Gillmer said, while adding that younger Democratic politicians, such as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, may have more impact on the trail.
“I think the way he can get the biggest clout is to have people campaign who are not him," Gillmer said.
Nearly 35,000 projects have been awarded funding under Biden’s infrastructure law, according to the White House. But while money has been quickly disbursed, many projects may take years to complete and potentially carry over into a future administration.
“It’s just so abstract when you think about it on the orders of magnitude of the federal government," said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Pa.), who added that people in her district were starting to see orange cones go up for projects funded by the infrastructure law. “There is a certain amount of time that it will take to unfold, but I think that that will happen over the next, let’s call it, six or seven months."
Anastasia Stefek, 31, an immigrant from Russia who will vote in Georgia for her first presidential election, wishes that Biden did more to protect the environment. She isn’t happy that oil production is expanding under the Biden administration and is unclear about the specific ways in which the president has invested in clean-energy technologies. To her, the specifics matter.
“So far it’s a lot of talk, not a lot of things being passed," said Stefek, who plans to vote for a more progressive third-party candidate. She’s not sure if Biden can do anything to win her over.
Biden’s backers point out that core Democratic voters will be more motivated to turn out for him if he faces a rematch with Trump.
“I don’t believe my mental health can stand up to another Trump term," said Alvin Collins, a 48-year-old accountant in Chester Springs, Pa.
Collins, a Democrat who voted for Biden in 2020, said he supportsthe president’s policies, although they have yet to benefit him directly, and he would prefer a candidate who was “a little more energetic." But he believes that Trump and Republicans are more focused on stoking divisions and that the country is in more stable hands with Biden.
“There’s more leadership," he said. “There’s just a lack of chaos."
Write to Sabrina Siddiqui at sabrina.siddiqui@wsj.com and Christian Robles at christian.robles@wsj.com
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