President Biden was fact-checked by Twitter once again on Monday for a claim he made about his economic policies increasing workers’ wages since the pandemic.
“Right now, real wages for the average American worker is” — sic — “higher than it was before the pandemic, with lower wage workers seeing the largest gains,” Mr. Biden tweeted. “That’s Bidenomics.”
Twitter Community Notes quickly attached a warning for readers that Mr. Biden’s “claim about real wages contains a factual error.”
“On 3/15/20 when US COVID lockdowns began real wages adjusted for inflation (AFI) were at $11.15. As of 7/16/23 real wages AFI are $11.05. Real wages AFI remain lower (not higher) than before the pandemic,” the note said.
Mr. Biden has frequently been called out on Twitter for some of his economic boasts. In late June, Mr. Biden took to Twitter to announce that he had cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion in two years, adding that it was the biggest reduction by any president in history.
A Community Notes correction was quickly added noting that The Washington Post rated his claim “highly misleading and other fact-checkers have disputed its accuracy.”
Right now, real wages for the average American worker is higher than it was before the pandemic, with lower wage workers seeing the largest gains.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 16, 2023
That’s Bidenomics.
“The $1.7 [trillion] spending reduction claimed by Biden was the result of pandemic emergency spending that automatically expired versus action taken by the president,” the note said.
Mr. Biden has also been fact-checked when he touted the benefit of the 988 suicide hotline, which was signed into law under President Trump, and when he declared health care “a right, not a privilege in this country,” with fact-checkers noting that he has opposed universal health care programs such as Medicare for all.
Mr. Biden’s challenged tweet comes amid a blitz of speeches and appearances across the country in which the president has pitched his Bidenomics economic agenda as the foundation of his reelection bid.
Voters remain skeptical, however. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released last month found that only 34% approve of Mr. Biden’s handling of the economy, a figure even lower than his overall approval job rating of 41%.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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