Loss Of Covid-Era Benefits To Put Additional Pressure On Biden

President Biden’s approval is being squeezed from all sides with his cratering approval likely to come in for another hit in the new year, when a lapse of social welfare programmes, include student debt relief and childcare support, hits voters, .

• Politico reports: “A string of popular pandemic-era support programs have expired this fall, creating so-called benefit cliffs affecting millions of Americans. That coincides with policy changes to traditional welfare programs that are now kicking in, creating potential new hurdles for hundreds of thousands of participants.”
• The loss of benefit is likely to impact key elements of Biden core base. The Washington Post reports that, Gen Z and millennial voters, expected to make up nearly 40 percent of the electorate in 2024, have “expressed openness to third-party candidates” amid frustration with the prospect of a Trump-Biden rematch.
• Like the negative response to Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war, social welfare holes are likely to disproportionately affect women, young people, and minority groups.
• The Post notes that Gen Z and millennials, “have typically supported Democratic candidates, and young people were key to flipping swing states such as Michigan blue and securing Biden’s win in 2020… But a diminished turnout among young voters could complicate Biden’s reelection bid…”