A recent poll revealed terrible news for President Joe Biden and his re-election campaign, particularly regarding public perception of his economic policies, that was so stark it forced a number of Democrats and strategists to pause and consider whether a substantial course correction was necessary ahead of 2024.
One of those is Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who acknowledged how difficult it is for the Biden campaign and Democrats more generally to talk about the economy when Americans are still struggling with severely inflated pricing for most goods and services, according to Breitbart.
However, unlike a handful of prominent Democrats who have called upon Biden to drop out of the race and let somebody else be the 2024 nominee, Moskowitz didn't go that far and instead suggested that the campaign and Democrats needed to do a better job on "messaging" about the improving economy.
On Sunday, a new poll from the New York Times/Siena College was released which showed President Biden trailing behind his likely 2024 opponent, former President Donald Trump, in five of the six key battleground swing states, and also exposed a substantial fraying of the coalition of different demographic groups that Biden relied upon to win the 2020 election.
A key driver behind the results was a widespread belief by voters "across all income levels" that they had been personally and financially harmed to some extent by Biden's economic policies, while also feeling that Trump's policies had personally and financially benefitted them.
Across every single demographic group, Trump was far more trusted by voters than Biden, 59-37%, to restore prosperity and effectively manage the nation's economy while addressing persistent price inflation and high interest rates.
The Times noted that that particular finding is "especially problematic" for Biden in that the economy is also far and away the top issue of concern for American voters ahead of the 2024 election.
On Monday, Rep. Moskowitz joined CNN host Jake Tapper for an interview during which that bad news poll for President Biden was up for discussion.
The Democratic congressman initially stated that he didn't share the same concerns raised by some who have urged Biden to drop out of the presidential race, though he did acknowledge that "we should look at the poll. We’ve got to get into the data, and we can figure out how we need to improve our messaging, because I do think we have a messaging issue, in that we’ve got to continue to feed the beast every single, solitary day."
After complaining about Trump's seemingly constant presence on TV, Moskowitz suggested, "Joe Biden’s got to get out there and we’ve got to get our surrogates out there. Because we do have to message, not just to young people. We have to explain what Donald Trump is going to do if he returns."
Tapper said at one point in the discussion, "One of the key issues to historically motivate voters is the economy. And while the numbers on jobs and spending, even inflation, are much improved, more than half of those polled by The New York Times/Siena College said the current economic conditions are poor. That’s a threat to the Democrats, especially to Biden."
"It is. We can’t tell people the economy is good or things are getting better, if they don’t feel it," Moskowitz replied. "If -- go to the grocery store, food’s more expensive, gas is more expensive than they remember, and even while it’s coming down."
"And so, these are things that are affecting people’s lives. Rent is more expensive. Doing anything right now is more expensive because of inflation," the Florida congressman continued. "This is still the period outside of COVID, when we saw things just skyrocket. They went up super quick, and they’re coming down much slower."
"And we’ve got to explain to people all the things that President Biden has done to help that along," he added optimistically. "But, yeah, no, people still don’t necessarily feel it. There’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to talk to them."
