Ahead of the November election between President Joe Biden and his presumptive Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, a lot is going to be said.
Undoubtedly, the two campaigns will run ads attempting to paint a positive picture of their candidate as well as negative ads highlighting the lowlights of the opponent.
Very quickly, there will be a flurry of information that will be difficult to differentiate between what matters and what just makes a good talking point.
So let's keep it simple.
What matters the most to Americans in their choice of president?
According to a Pew Research survey conducted this year, the answer is "strengthening the economy," with no other issue standing out at the level that American economic success does.
So then, which candidate has done a better job of strengthening the economy?
Writer and analysis Brian Shannon perfectly highlighted the major economic contributions of the Biden administration in one simple social media post on Sunday.
Shannon shared a graphic showing the percentage change in the consumer price index in various categories from January 2020, when Trump was president, to April 2024.
"The effect of inflation," he wrote.
The effect of inflation pic.twitter.com/oXEAsRl0nC
— Brian Shannon, CMT (@alphatrends) June 3, 2024
Motor vehicle insurance is 46 percent more expensive than it was four years ago.
Both gasoline and energy prices are 34 percent higher.
Used cars and trucks cost 29 percent more than in 2020, with food at restaurants up 25 percent.
The image provides other examples, such as shelter and personal care, with an overall CPI increase of 21 percent for that period.
Well, Biden certainly performed badly, but how did Trump do?
Well, a lot better.
When the 45th president took office in 2017, gas was $2.36 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In his last week in office in January 2021, it was $2.38.
Under Biden, the price of gas spiked to $4.88 and remains high at $3.52.
A dozen eggs cost $1.60 when Trump took office and only went above $2 twice during his administration, according to Yahoo Finance.
The lowest price Biden has seen is $2.04.
The outlet noted that "Trump oversaw a period of relatively low inflation, and Biden’s term so far has largely been defined by rapidly rising prices and the most painful inflation since the early 1980s."
While the sitting president is undoubtedly going to spew statistics about how the economy is better than it's ever been or whatever nonsense his team came up with, the charts tell a simple and true tale.
Americans are struggling to make ends meet under Biden -- under Trump, they weren't.
When casting your vote in November, choose wisely.
