Top Democrat Downplays Impact of Cost of Gas, Food on Midterms

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said in a recent interview that voters' economic concerns are not as important as protecting democracy.

The South Carolina Democrat told Fox News on Thursday that Americans should ponder whether they want to live in a democracy or autocracy, conjuring past comments made by former President Donald Trump in which he called the press "the enemy of the people."

"I think that people should be voting in their own self-interest," Clyburn said. "And their self-interest is much more than what you may or may not be paying for gas or a loaf of bread. ... The question is, are we going to have a society that everyone can participate in? Or are we going to have an autocracy?"

Aside from laying blame on the right for the "demonization of Nancy Pelosi" following the attack on her husband, Paul, Clyburn said Republicans' embrace of political violence, election denialism and voter intimidation is akin to "Germany in the '30s."

Clyburn's statements mirrored what he said during an appearance on MSNBC last month, calling it a "fool's choice" for voters to submit ballots based on gas prices instead of upholding democracy.

"I don't know if anybody will say I would rather pay $10 or even 10 cents, or even 20 cents less per gallon and allow you to take my rights away, my voting rights away, and these other things that we know the other party is doing to suppress votes," Clyburn told MSNBC host Jose Diaz Balart.

While also telling Balart that he and others are concerned about rising prices, Clyburn said current costs are a reflection of the "recovery program." That was in reference to the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and $738 billion Inflation Reduction Act, the latter of which was found by the Congressional Budget Office to have a "negligible" impact on inflation in 2022 and 2023.

In 2021, a group of 15 Nobel-prize-winning economists wrote an open letter touting the long-term benefits of "Build Back Better" to minimize inflation.

Nearly one year ago, Clyburn said in an interview with NPR that the Build Back Better, bipartisan infrastructure and the American Rescue Act initiatives should be Democrats' "Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost going forward."

A recent Gallup poll showed that 49 percent of respondents described the economy's condition as poor, with just 14 percent describing it as excellent or good. Thirty-seven percent called it "fair."

The gap of 35 percentage points between positive and negative outlooks on the economy is the largest ever recorded by Gallup.

That same poll showed Biden with the second-lowest approval rating (40 percent) among presidents heading into the midterms. George W. Bush had a 36 percent approval rating in 2006.

A Monmouth University poll from early October found that 82 percent of respondents viewed the economy and inflation as extremely or very important. It was reported as the most important issue in this election cycle.

Newsweek reached out to Clyburn for comment.