Why Biden may be worse that Jimmy Carter...

 “Are you better off today than 

you were four years ago?” 

In the final week of the 1980 presidential campaign between 

Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Republican nominee Ronald Reagan, the two candidates held their only debate. Going into the Oct. 28 event, Carter had managed to turn a dismal summer into a close race for a second term. And then, during the debate, Reagan posed what has become one of the most important campaign questions of all time: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Carter’s answer was a resounding “NO,” and in the final, crucial days of the campaign, his numbers tanked. 

 On Election Day, Reagan won a huge popular vote and electoral victory. The “better off” question has been with us ever since. 

Nearly half of U.S. voters say they are “financially worse” than they were one year ago, shortly after the end of former President Trump’s four years in office, Harvard/Harris Poll’s March survey found.

The survey asked respondents, “Would you say that your personal financial situation is improving or getting worse?”

Nearly half, 49 percent, said their financial situation is “getting worse.” That is over two times higher than the 21 percent of voters who said the same exactly one year ago, in March 2021, less than two months after Trump left office.

That coincides with the top issue for voters, as “price increases/inflation” topped the list of “most important issues” facing the country.  

Voters were asked to select three issues, and the “economy and jobs” followed closely behind with 27 percent. Immigration rounded out the top three with 21 percent, followed by the coronavirus (19 percent), health care (18 percent), terrorism/national security (18 percent), national debt/federal budget deficits (15 percent), crime and drugs (14 percent), environment/climate change (14 percent), and corruption (12 percent). The remaining issues saw ten percent support or less. 

Respondents were also asked to identify their greatest/second greatest concern, and once again, inflation topped the list, as 35 percent said it is their “greatest” concern and 18 percent said it is their second greatest concern. 

Further, 76 percent said they have been affected by inflation, up from 67 percent who said the same in January. Of those, over one-third said they have been affected “a lot.” Forty-percent said they feel the impacts of inflation most at the grocery store, while 36 percent said they feel it at the gas pump. 

Notably, voters do not have an optimistic outlook on that front, 

as a plurality, 46 percent, said they expect inflation to “stay high” and 35 percent expect it to “get even higher.”

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