Democrats are in trouble as polling shows inflation isn't transitory

There's little that vast swaths of people agree with. According to I&I/TIPP Polling, though, the vast majority of people expect inflation to be with us for the next year. According to their polling, "In our November I&I/TIPP Poll, 84% said 'over the next year prices for gasoline, food, and other household products' would be 'much higher' or 'somewhat higher' than today. Only 8% thought they’d be lower, while 5% weren’t sure."

The Biden White House should be worried about this:

The big surprise comes from those who expect 'much higher' prices (48%), compared to those expecting only 'somewhat higher' prices (36%). Clearly, many people are preparing themselves for a slog against '70s-style inflation at least for the next year.

This pie-chart shows the distribution of views on inflation:

With the list of problems already tormenting Democrats, this is bad news for Democrats. They voted to create this inflation when they voted to pass the so-called COVID relief bill. That bill gave people a government bonus check while incentivizing people not to return to work. That's too many dollars chasing too few goods. Democrats didn't complain when Biden shut down energy exploration on federal lands. That took 2,500,000 barrels of oil out of production per day. (We were producing 13,500,000 barrels per day under Trump. We're now producing 11,000,000 barrels per day.)

This is bad news for Democrats, too:

Inflation, as measured by the year-over-year monthly increase in consumer prices, has been surging since April of this year, when it jumped to 4.2% from the first quarter’s average rate of just 1.8%. At the time, many experts surmised it was "transient" or "temporary."

However, since then, it’s move up sharply. Indeed, for the five months following April, all the monthly gains from the year before were 5% or higher. In October, prices surged 6.2%, a 30-year high, exceeding even already-gloomy forecasters’ predictions. That compares with the average 1.9% annual CPI rate that prevailed during President Donald Trump’s four years in office.

The wage gains under Trump weren't eaten up by inflation. The wage gains posted under Biden are eaten by inflation and then some. To use an analogy, the difference between the two is that Trump's wage gains were bouyed by a life vest while Biden's wage gains are bouyed by a millstone. According to TIPP's polling, most people say that they're experiencing a sinking feeling.