On Tuesday, incumbent President Joe Biden began the 2024 election cycle with something he lacked two and a half years prior: a track record in the Oval Office.
He intends to run on it, touting his accomplishments as justification for a second term while opposition Republicans certainly criticise his performance in the Oval Office.
After former President Donald Trump’s polarising presidency, Biden, 80, pledged to “restore the soul of America” and battle COVID-19, reform the economy, fight climate change, support voting rights, and bring back bipartisanship during his 2020 presidential campaign.
In addition to dealing with that list, Biden also had to deal with unexpected difficulties like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and record-high inflation. He served in the U.S. Senate for 36 years.
Early in his presidency, Biden combated a growing anti-vaccine movement by ordering 100 million workers to receive doses designed to make COVID-19 less lethal and communicable. Biden also oversaw a widespread distribution of vaccines and a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus programme.
But he faced criticism from both sides for extending the lockdown and for declaring the pandemic to be gone too quickly while also taking too long to distribute testing and send vaccines abroad.
More than 1.1 million Americans have perished from COVID-19, the majority of them since Biden took office, but the fatality rate has decreased recently, especially.
By raising taxes on the wealthiest and corporations and shifting advantages to the middle class, Biden campaigned on a pledge to completely overhaul the US economy.
Jobs grew at a rate under his watch that was about three times faster than it had been before to the pandemic, setting marks not seen since the 1960s. 3.2 million extra jobs have been added to the economy since the pre-pandemic peak.
However, there has been a sharp increase in inflation in the United States as a result of pandemic expenditures and supply-chain issues that resulted in petrol prices exceeding $5 per gallon in the summer of 2022. Furthermore, according to critics, Biden’s increased federal expenditure, which included 750 million dollars for tax rebates and climate change initiatives, raised inflation.
The Federal Reserve was compelled by the rapid rise in prices to tighten monetary policy, which some fear may lead to a recession.
According to the consumer price index for March, petrol costs were down, rent rises had started to slow down, and food prices had dropped for the first time since September 2020 by 0.3%.
With unemployment projected to increase as economy slows, high interest rates, and inflation persisting above pre-pandemic levels, Biden may not have the best hand in 2024.
while a significant victory, Biden can point to the Western response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine: the US has united the world against Moscow, maintained pressure even while some European allies wavered, and strengthened the NATO alliance.
However, both Democrats and Republicans voiced harsh criticism of the disorganised American pullout from Afghanistan in 2021.
Biden has also encountered opposition from longtime ally Saudi Arabia, which has supported OPEC+ oil output limits that the US believes are unwarranted.
As Biden restricts and monitors exports to China and congressional representatives from various political parties continue to call for harsher sanctions against the country, relations with China have also deteriorated.
More than $2 trillion in federal expenditure, much of it geared towards reviving US industry, was pushed through by Biden and his fellow Democrats in bills including the CHIPS, Inflation Reduction Act, and an infrastructure plan.
Many businesses who want a piece of that federal expenditure must adhere to a set of rules that push firms to produce their goods here, a move that labour unions support but that is opposed by trading partners like the European Union and Mexico.
The U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics reports that there were 12.98 million manufacturing employment in the United States in each of the first three months of this year, which is a record high since 2008.
Biden reinstated the United States’ participation in the Paris climate agreement after Trump withdrew, and he established a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50–52 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
The President’s Inflation Reduction Act, which includes billions in incentives to promote renewable energy and carbon-reduction initiatives, has been dubbed the largest investment in climate change mitigation in history.
On federal lands, however, his administration approved oil and gas projects, most notably the Willow project in Alaska’s North Slope, which environmentalists groups contend undermines the advancement achieved on his other accomplishments.
