Ronald Reagan’s classic 1980 challenge to voters, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” could be the end of President Joe Biden should former President Donald Trump pull it out in the election debates.
When Reagan used it in the only debate with former President Jimmy Carter, most people facing high inflation said “no,” and Reagan won the presidency in an electoral landslide.
This year, voters have faced inflation and sustained high prices, and the question asked in a new Rasmussen Reports survey found that people agree with those in 1980.
In the results shared with Secrets on Monday morning, 54% said they are not better off than they were when Biden beat Trump. Just 39% said they are, and that number was pushed up by partisan Democrats.
Also, more black and Hispanic people agreed they are not better off. Among black people, 45% said “no,” to 44% who said “yes.” Among Hispanic voters, 50% said they are not better off, to 44% who said they are.
It was the same with voters aged 40 and above.
And for another key Biden target, independent voters, the results were devastating, with 57% saying they are not better off, to 33% who said they are.
The question was one of three asked in the survey. In the other two, voters said they trusted Republicans to handle the topics of the economy and immigration better.
Reagan biographer Craig Shirley said the Gipper’s closing lines in the debate with Carter “crystalized exactly what people were feeling in 1980, what with the terrible economy and awful world situation.”
He told Secrets that Reagan had been testing out the line in campaign appearances and that it was something he alone came up with.
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“Reagan used that line against Jimmy Carter because it crystalized exactly what people were feeling in 1980, what with the terrible economy and awful world situation,” Shirley said.
“As I wrote in my book, Rendezvous with Destiny, Reagan had been playing around with it in several speeches before crowds before the one and only debate with Carter in 1980. It has since entered the political lexicon, as have many Reaganisms. Contrary to false claims, Reagan coined it himself and was not coined by [presidential adviser] David Gergen or anyone else,” he added.
