McConnell: ‘Democrats are unifying the country in unhappiness’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday highlighted a new poll showing that 93 percent of working-age Americans rate the economy as poor or fair, declaring that “Democrats are unifying the country in unhappiness.”  

McConnell pointed out key finding of a New York Times-Siena College poll published Tuesday, which also showed that President Biden has a paltry 33 percent job approval rating.  

“We all know inflation and the economy are the biggest problems facing Americans today,” McConnell said on the floor. “We are a big and a diverse country. Ninety-three percent of Americans hardly ever agree on anything, but Democrats are unifying the country in unhappiness at the dark path down which they’ve taken our economy.”  

McConnell cited data released by Monmouth University showing that 42 percent of Americans are struggling to stay afloat financially, calling it “the highest rate ever” in the poll’s history.  

“Sixty-three percent of Americans name economic issues as their chief concern,” he said. “And they know who to blame for their misfortune — President Biden and congressional Democrats, who plowed $2 trillion into our economy last year and created the highest inflation in four decades.”  

The New York Times-Siena College poll found that voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy is even weighing on Democratic voters.  

The poll found that 64 percent of Democratic voters said they would prefer someone other than Biden to be the party’s nominee in 2024.  

It also found that only 13 percent of American voters think the nation is on the right track, the lowest Times polling has found since the Great Recession of 2009.  

McConnell once again blamed inflation on the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that Congress passed last year without a single Republican vote. 

“I’m sure many of my colleagues heard heartrending stories from constituents struggling with inflation during the past two weeks’ state work period. I certainly did in Kentucky, where the average household now spends more than $500 more a month than they did before President Biden took office,” he said.  

Biden’s approval rating now stands at 70 percent among Democrats, according to the Times-Siena College poll, a troublesome sign for Democratic candidates ahead of the midterm elections.  

The president’s unpopularity is acute among younger voters. Ninety-four percent of Democrats under the age of 30 would like someone else to be their party’s standard-bearer in 2024, the poll showed.  

McConnell warned that a budget reconciliation package under negotiation between Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) could put more pressure on the economy, citing more than $200 billion in tax increases the package would include to extend the solvency of Medicare.  

“Kentucky business owners are watching apprehensively as Washington Democrats debate another dose of bad policies,” he said. “This time our colleagues are reportedly cooking up $1 trillion in massive tax hikes on things like small businesses and domestic energy. 

“When you tax something, you get less of it,” he added.