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Former President Donald Trump has pinned blame on President Joe Biden for killing the so-called "American Dream," writing in an op-ed published by Newsweek that rising inflation rates under Biden have squashed young Americans' hopes for a family.
Trump, who as of now is set to face Biden in November's 2024 presidential election as both men bid for a second term in the White House, has repeatedly bashed the current president's economic policies during his campaign run. Members of the GOP often home in on the rising cost of living in the U.S. as a key criticism of Biden, although the president has previously refused to accept blame for the historically high inflation rates that have plagued his first two years in office.
In his opinion piece published Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. inflation rate was a main contributor to his "wide margins" ahead of Biden in preliminary polling regarding young voters, pointing to a recent survey by NBC News finding that voters age 18 to 34 favored Trump 46 percent to 42 percent in a hypothetical matchup between him and Biden.
"The U.S. economy had never been better for young Americans," Trump said, referring to his administration's economic wins. "But for the past three years, young people have borne the heavy costs of the failed Biden agenda: crippling inflation, soaring prices, skyrocketing interest rates, unaffordable housing, and escalating crime."
Trump specifically blamed Biden for the rising mortgage rates, which he said has made "home-ownership out of reach for too many Americans, especially young Americans who in previous generations would be looking to start a family."
"As a result, historically high numbers of young people are delaying marriage and children," the former president wrote.
"Sadly, many younger Americans are putting their lives on hold because they think the Biden economy leaves them no choice," he added.
According to a survey published in June by the Thriving Center of Psychology, nearly three-quarters of Gen Z and millennial Americans—which include adults up until age 42—think that it's too expensive to get married in today's current economy. Two in five respondents also said that they feel marriage is an outdated tradition, and 85 percent of younger generations do not think marriage is necessary to have a committed relationship.
The survey results follow similar polls that have found a decline in marriage rates among younger adults in recent years, although Trump said that Biden's economic policies are a main contributor to the Thriving Center's findings.
"Instead of helping our young people confidently begin their lives, careers, and families, Joe Biden is crushing their dreams with debt, taxes, and inflation, and paving the way for a future of anger and despair," the former president added. "Under Joe Biden, we are a nation in decline and rapidly losing the American Dream."
Newsweek reached out to the White House press office for comment via email Wednesday morning.
Biden revealed new ways that he intends to turn the tide on the American economy during Monday's meeting for the White House's Council on Supply Chain Resilience, which marked the council's first-ever forum. He also told attendees that while many prices "are still too high for too many things," he believes his administration has "made progress," according to the Associated Press.
The council also laid out 30 action steps aimed at increasing investments into U.S. medicines and medical supplies, including by appealing the 1950 Defense Production Act to allow the Department of Health and Human Services authority to enact investments in "essential medicines." The White House said that Biden's administration believes the medical manufacturing sector is of crucial importance to U.S. security.
"These [30] actions will help Americans get the products they need when they need them, enable reliable deliveries for businesses, strengthen our agriculture and food systems, and support good-paying, union jobs here at home," the White House said Monday.
Update12/4/23, 10:47 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include a link to the Thriving Center of Psychology.
About the writer
Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more