2024 Election # Why 'Bidenomics' Isn't Working For Biden ## The economy is improving, but Americans aren't giving Biden credit for it. A FiveThirtyEight Chat ## Sep. 12 , 2023, at 4:07 PM Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. **nrakich** (Nathaniel Rakich, senior elections analyst): For a long time, the economy has been seen as a big liability for President Biden in his reelection bid. Inflation soared in 2021 and 2022, culminating at a rate of 9.1 percent last June. The same month, average gas prices exceeded $5 per gallon. And in the second quarter of 2022, the gross domestic product actually decreased by 0.6 percent. It was little surprise, then, that only 28 percent of Americans approved of the way Biden was handling the economy in a July 2022 Quinnipiac University poll. But in recent months, economic indicators have been looking up, and Biden has begun making the case that his economic policies are working.…