Bidenomics Won't Swing It for the Democrats

Biden's economic policies are reaping benefits in battleground states, but immigration is proving to bea more important issue for voters in the presidential election

- OMAR MOHAMMED

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S ECOnomic policies might be working to his advantage, particularly in six swing states, data shows-but other figures suggest that immigration risks overshadowing Bidenomics at the ballot box come November.

While the current presidency has been plagued by high inflation, which soared to its highest level in 40 years leading some analysts to anticipate a recession-the economy has proved resilient. Inflation has slowed. In January, employers added 353,000 jobs, crushing economists' forecast of 185,000, according to government data. The unemployment rate has stood at 3.7 percent, its lowest level in decades, and last year the economy grew by 2.5 percent.

The private sector is also hiring, adding more than 100,000 jobs in January, while wages also went up, according to research institute ADP both slower than in previous months but a signal that the economy was achieving a soft landing.

This is where the Federal Reserve's hiking of rates helped cool inflation without doing too much damage to the economy.

"This economy has softly landed and is relaxing at its destination, with two things happening: slowdown in hiring, but still solid, and wage pressures [are] easing, which also helps the case to keeping inflation under control," ADP's chief economist Nela Richardson told reporters last month.

The Biden administration says the economy shows his policies-dubbed Bidenomics are working. And in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, low unemployment, below-average gas prices and economic growth indicate he might be right.

"The U.S. economy grew 3.1 percent over the past year while adding another 2.7 million jobs, and with core inflation moving back down toward the pre-pandemic benchmark," Biden said last month, comparing growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 with the same time the previous year.