Durham Reporter

When it comes to inflation, 60% of Americans say President Joe Biden is responsible for much of it, with his COVID-19 relief package from a year ago being a large contributor to rising prices.

That opinion comes from a survey of 800 likely voters, conducted March 15-17 by the Senate Opportunity Fund. When asked the question: "Thinking about the job that President Biden has done with regard to inflation, how would you describe the job he has done on this issue?", 60% of voters said Biden has done a poor job; 35% of voters said he has done a good job; and 5% of voters had no opinion. 

Four economic researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco say massive government spending during the coronavirus pandemic has caused U.S. inflation to surge more than in other developed economies.

“Estimates suggest that fiscal support measures designed to counteract the severity of the pandemic’s economic effect may have contributed to this divergence by raising inflation about 3 percentage points by the end of 2021,” economists Òscar Jordà, Celeste Liu, Fernanda Nechio, and Fabián Rivera-Reyes wrote in the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's Economic Letter in late March. 

North Carolinians say the state’s Democratic Party leader shares in the blame. Bobbie Richardson, who chairs the N.C. Democratic Party, spoke out against Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Richard Burr (R-NC) for voting against the $1.9 trillion relief deal that was passed in March 2021. Tillis and Burr “have once again put politics over helping North Carolinians struggling during the pandemic,” Richardson said, according to a report on myfox8.com. 

Tillis posted his explanation for voting against the bill on social media. 

“I voted against the $1.9 trillion spending bill passed by Senate Democrats. My Democratic colleagues pushed their partisan spending bill through the Senate and put an end to the bipartisan spirit of COVID relief that produced results over the past year," his statement read. "The reality is we still have more than $1 trillion of unspent funds from the previous COVID relief bills which is why I co-introduced a $650 billion COVID-19 relief plan as a substitute amendment that was blocked by Senate Democrats.”

Inflation is at a 40-year high—7.9% according to the latest government data from February, 2022. 

Gasoline prices are a leading driver of consumer inflation. The most recent Gasoline Misery Index shows the average American pays $704 more annually than they did a year ago. In North Carolina, the annual increase is estimated at $851, North Carolina Business Daily reports.