Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday slammed incumbent Joe Biden for his administration’s “poor job" on the economic front in his opening remarks during the first debate of the 2024 election cycle at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta.
With the economy as the central focus of the debate, Trump said, “Inflation is ‘killing our country.’ He has not done a good job. He’s done a poor job. And inflation is absolutely devastating us." During the debate, Biden detailed what he described as an American economy “in freefall."
Trump spoke about the state of the economy while he was in office. He said that under his 2017-2021 leadership, “we had the greatest economy in the history of our country," and that inflation under Biden today is “killing" the United States.
At CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, Biden and Trump clashed on their records on the economy, abortion and immigration at a debate with enormous stakes as each candidate seeks an advantage in their tight race for the White House.
In a May Gallup poll, about 3 in 10 Americans said the economy was the most important problem facing the country. About 1 in 10 pointed specifically to the high cost of living or inflation. About 2 in 10 Americans said immigration was the country’s top problem, and another 2 in 10 said the government/poor leadership was the most important problem.
The stakes are high as Trump holds a narrow national lead over Biden, polling at 45 percent to Biden’s 44 percent, according to The Hill aggregate polls. The two rivals did not shake hands as they took their positions at podiums just feet apart in a studio with no live audience.
Biden, 81, faces ongoing concerns about his age, the rising cost of living, and his administration’s handling of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Meanwhile, Trump is dealing with fallout from his conviction in a New York hush money trial, multiple federal indictments, and scrutiny over his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
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