It’s the Inflation, Stupid

A spate of new polls shows that likely voters in October are breaking toward Republican candidates — in a big swing from August and September. This is no surprise. Record-high inflation is killing families, killing working people, killing take-home pay, killing groceries on kitchen tables, and killing the economy. Everybody knows it. It is by far the no. 1 issue in the midterm elections. By far. Rasmussen Reports moved to +7 GOP two days ago from about even in August. The New York Times — hold your breath on this one — just moved to +4 Republicans from +2 Democrats in September. By the way, in all these polls, independents are breaking heavily for Republicans. Women are breaking heavily for Republicans. The Democrats all year have bet on hating President Trump, MAGA, and the Supreme Court’s abortion decision. They bet wrong. It’s the economy, stupid. Even more: It’s the inflation, stupid. Mark Penn’s Harvard/Harris poll out this weekend shows American voters’ top concerns: inflation at 37 percent and the economy at 29 percent — for a total of 66 percent. The Gallup poll says 59 percent of Americans are now concerned about inflation. The Rasmussen Reports poll shows the same story: 84 percent say rising prices will be important in their vote. No other issues are remotely in play. Don’t get me wrong: Border security, illegal immigration, crime — all are important issues. In some states like New York, where Republican Lee Zeldin is about to beat Governor Hochul, crime may still be the top issue. Nationwide, though, for the House and Senate seats, it’s all about inflation. That is why I repeat that Republicans must keep “Biden inflation” as the no. 1 issue in their campaigns. The inflation buck started with President Biden, and continues on him — to this very day. Let me repeat, the GOP must keep the hammer on “Biden inflation” in the last 22 days until the midterms. Somebody who doesn’t seem to get the message is our president: “I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar, I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell,” he said while having a snack at Portland, Oregon. Sorry, Mr. President. Inflation is killing the economy. By the way, you’re not going to lick inflation without a strong king dollar currency. So you’re 0-for-2 on that ice cream cone. Any Democrat who voted for the so-called emergency relief spending bill back in March 2021 — or who voted for the out of control spending in the fraudulently named Inflation Reduction Act, or who supports the trillion-dollar cost of student loan cancellations, or who stopped oil and gas production — must be hammered for supporting the Biden inflation that is wrecking family budgets and the economy. This must be the cavalry’s bugle call, the no. 1 issue, because nearly 100 percent of the Democratic candidates voted for Mr. Biden’s inflationary policies. The president is out there telling people that if Republicans win, inflation is going to get worse. Frankly, I don’t believe anybody else buys that. Here are some interesting numbers from our friends at the accurate TIPP Insights poll: It’s bad enough that inflation in just the last two months has started to increase again, but they go all the way back to a metric base of February 2021 to measure rising prices. This, of course, spans the duration of the Biden administration. Food prices are up 15 percent, energy is up 39 percent, core CPI is up 10 percent, gasoline is up 48 percent, used car prices are up 36 percent, new cars are up 17 percent, airline tickets are up 44 percent, groceries are up 17 percent, electricity is up 22 percent, utility costs are up 51 percent, and maintaining and repairing a car is up 14 percent. It is this persistently high inflation that has brought down the economy from a 6.5 percent boom around Mr. Biden’s inauguration to a 1 percent decline in the first half of this year. Not an easy thing to do. The Bidens would’ve been better off leaving President Trump’s prosperous economy alone. But no, they had to try big-government socialism. Radical climate change politics and progressive lefty spending, taxing, and regulating. One of the underlying subtexts of this election is that common-sense Americans are rejecting the transformative socialism that has brought down our economy. Instead, they prefer free-enterprise capitalism that will bring back prosperity. This will be the big challenge for a potential GOP majority in the 118th Congress: ending inflation, ending recession, and bringing prosperity back. A new, Republican-led Congress will be faced with a genuine economic crisis. Not a phony one, a real one. The crucial challenge will be to hit the ground running to bring back prosperity. Right from the get-go, I would suggest rescinding as much of the Dems’ inflationary spending as possible — going all the way back to March 2021. There’s at least $500 billion unaccounted for. Literally stolen from taxpayers. Get rid of the 87,000 new IRS agents that cost $80 billion. It’s nothing but an attack on the middle class. Rescind the potentially trillion-dollar cost of student loan cancellation. Use the Congressional Review Act to overturn Mr. Biden’s regulatory central planning socialism and reopen the oil and gas spigots. Rescind the tax hikes on large and small businesses and investors. Mr. Biden will undoubtedly resist these prosperity reforms, but the country will be behind them. Common-sense Americans know that inflation must be killed and the economy must be revived. More than 40 years ago, Ronald Reagan inherited a similar economic crisis. My former boss, David Stockman, and my friend, Jack Kemp, wrote a famous memo called “Avoiding a GOP Economic Dunkirk.” The basic themes are there today in Minority Leader McCarthy’s GOP “Commitment to America.” Let’s waste no time.From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.

It’s the Inflation, Stupid

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