Everybody except Democrats sees inflation as the big issue
In a recent survey, pollsters from Quinnipiac University asked 1,526 adults what is "the most urgent issue facing the country today?"
For Republican respondents, the easy winner was inflation, at 46%. For self-described independents, it was also inflation, at 37%. In both cases, the next most important issue was a very distant second.
In fact, nearly every demographic group agreed that inflation is the most important issue. Men (39%), women (28%), white people (36%), black people (21%), Hispanic people (36%), youngsters (29%), millennials (41%), baby boomers (39%), seniors (26%), white college graduates (34%), and white non-college graduates (37%) all agreed that inflation is the most important issue facing the country right now.
The one group that didn't agree? Democrats. For them, abortion (18%) is the most important issue facing the country right now. Inflation is in second place at just 14%, just barely ahead of election laws (13%) and climate change (10%).
Maybe this explains why Democrats think they can survive the 2022 midterm elections, so long as the Supreme Court justices follow through with their anticipated ruling overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion decision. But as we have noted previously, their basis for such hopes is pretty weak. We are talking about an issue that only 11% of U.S. adults prioritize overall — and don't forget that a sizable number of those abortion-focused voters oppose abortion.
Perhaps the more appropriate and obvious conclusion to draw here is that the Democrats are way out of sync with the daily realities that most other groups are facing.
And if they are being pinched personally by inflation, they are willing to turn a blind eye to the biggest problem facing the country — to do otherwise would require an admission that the Biden administration is not going so well. After all, the same poll shows Biden with a 32% approval rating and a 63% disapproval rating on his handling of the economy. Any election run on that issue will become a rout.
In the last 16 months, the completely predictable, slow-rolling disasters of Afghanistan, the immigration crisis at the border, the current baby formula shortage, and inflation have all run over President Joe Biden's asleep-at-the-wheel administration despite his having ample time to prevent all of them.
Now, his Democratic Party is staring down its own electoral tractor-trailer, heading up the road at a leisurely 5 mph. To step out of the way in time for this fall's election would require Democrats to get their priorities straight — to align them with those of most of the public.
And that's why this politically fatal road accident is inevitable.
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