Youngkin contends Biden and Harris have dismissed economic pains of voters

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) argued Thursday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have dodged addressing how voters feel about the economy , which he said is “by far” the biggest problem ahead of the 2024 election .

Youngkin contended that the last 3 1/2 years have seen “real challenges” for consumers in the United States to afford the cost of living, including over 500,000 people taking on a second job. The governor was asked how the Biden-Harris administration is “selling hard” on the claim that Bidenomics helped voters ahead of the election, prompting Youngkin to suggest the administration has dismissed voters.

“First of all, we can’t tell the public to ignore what they’ve seen and felt, and that’s what the Biden-Harris administration’s been trying to do: Don’t acknowledge the fact that you’re living paycheck to paycheck because it’s really better than you think,” Youngkin said on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “For hardworking Americans, they haven't seen real wage increases. During the Trump administration, they saw 15% wage increases, and hardworking Americans understand that clearly.”

The Virginia governor suggested that people need to look at “the real track records” of the past two administrations. When confronted by one of the show hosts, who suggested that you could not compare the Trump and Biden administrations due to the coronavirus pandemic, Youngkin reiterated that people need to acknowledge “the reality of on the ground” and called for politicians to get back to this.

Youngkin also cited Harris's recent comment during her appearance on The View this week. She claimed that “there is not a thing that comes to mind” on whether she would have done anything differently during the Biden administration. As such, Youngkin took this comment to mean she would do “the exact same thing” regarding what Biden has done in his leadership with the economy and inflation.

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The Washington Examiner’s Byron York has also assessed Harris’s comment on The View, arguing it poses a serious problem to her campaign strategy of running as “a change candidate” against former President Donald Trump. With less than a month left before the election, York predicted this comment from Harris would be featured prominently in campaign ads supporting the former president.

Christopher Newport University's polling data released earlier this week indicated that Harris leads Trump by 11% in Virginia , a sizable lead ahead of the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. On the economy and inflation, Harris has a slim lead over Trump by 1 percentage point, while the former president held the same lead on addressing immigration.