Analysis: Americans aren’t really buying into the “Putin price hike”
Biden appeared to not only have license to take that step — he could also use it to reinforce the narrative that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine bore blame for the ugly crooked numbers people were seeing at the pump. The White House even debuted a new talking point: the “The reality, though, was never going to be so neat. Inflation and gas prices were already bad, and it’s a difficult task to pin their rise on a war that isn’t front-and-center for most Americans.
straight-up asked people which should be Biden’s top priority: reducing inflation and improving the economy, or working to end the war in Ukraine. Americans chose the former by an overwhelming 68-29 margin.That last one is perhaps the most telling. It’s logical that people would consider inflation to be the bigger problem in this country, given this country isn’t directly involved in the war.
If there’s a kernel of good news in there for Biden, it’s that more people blame some combination of oil companies and the war for gas prices than blame the administration . The same is true for inflation, where the NBC poll showed 38 percent blamed Biden, while 28 percent blamed the pandemic, 23 percent blamed corporations and 6 percent blamed the war.
But practically speaking, the impact has been a drag on Biden. His approval rating on the economy dropped to 33 percent in the NBC News poll, and