Biden in Israel as poll shows support for re-election bid at new low – as it happened

President Joe Biden is in Israel, where he reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to one of its top allies. Meanwhile, back home, another month of sky-high inflation data rocked the Democratic leadership and caused a key senator to warn he may not be on board for big spending bills as long as prices keep increasing.

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Here’s what else happened today:

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• Biden saw support for his re-election plummet in a poll that said a mere 18 percent of respondents would back him in 2024.

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• A suspect was arrested in the case of a girl who had to travel from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion after being raped, refuting the doubts of Ohio’s Republican attorney general.

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• The main Senate candidates in Georgia brought in boatloads of money last quarter, though Democrat Raphael Warnock raised the most.

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• Michigan’s Democratic governor moved to stop other states from trying to arrest people who travel there for abortions.

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• The chair of the January 6 committee dropped more hints of its cooperation with the department of justice, which could potentially charge former president Donald Trump with a crime.

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President Joe Biden is in Israel right now but in an interview with the country’s Channel 12 broadcaster filed at the White House before his departure, he weighed in on the issues facing one of Washington’s top allies in the Middle East.

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The president kept the door open to using military force to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but said that would only be done as a “last resort”:

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EXCLUSIVE @POTUS interview with @N12News: committed to keeping IRGC on the foreign terrorist organizations list even if it kills the deal; willing to use force “as last resort” pic.twitter.com/jWjLO0SVQz

— Yonit Levi (@LeviYonit) July 13, 2022

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He also drew a line between himself and fellow Democrats who criticize aid to Israel and claim it’s an apartheid state:

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More from exclusive @POTUS interview with @N12News: voices in the Democratic Party calling Israel an apartheid state are “few, and they are wrong” pic.twitter.com/CkX3XRkRSL

— Yonit Levi (@LeviYonit) July 13, 2022

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Biden will on Friday travel to Saudi Arabia, but he made clear he does not expect that country to normalize relations with Israel anytime soon:

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Normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia “will take time” @POTUS to @N12News: pic.twitter.com/4GBnv92B0A

— Yonit Levi (@LeviYonit) July 13, 2022

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More bad news for Joe Biden on the polling front, where a mere 18% of respondents to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll said he should run for re-election in 2024 and 64% said he should step back in favour of another Democratic candidate.

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Among Democrats, 41% said Biden should not run again, against 35% who still wanted him as president.

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The result was worse than the same poll in May, when 25% of respondents said Biden should run for a second term. Among Democrats then, the figure was 49%.

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Biden’s favourability rating remains stuck in the mid- to upper-30s – not good by any measure.

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The Yahoo/YouGove poll also contained bad news for Biden’s vice-president, Kamala Harris, who was supported by just 19% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to run in Biden’s stead – behind doubty campaigners “someone else” (20%) and “not sure” (30%).

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Biden has said he will run again but he is already the oldest president ever inaugurated and will turn 82 shortly after the 2024 election.

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He has also faced his fair share of crises in his short time in office, from the economic and physical effects of the coronavirus pandemic to the threat to democracy posed by his Republican opponents, and from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effects on gas prices, food supplies and more.

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Such a roster of challenges would, it seems fair to say, challenge most non-Biden candidates the Democrats might be able to find.

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Here’s Ross Barkan with more:

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The latest inflation figures are certainly bad, but President Biden has just issued a statement arguing that the situation is better than it appears because gas prices have declined since the data was collected. Here’s the meat of his argument:

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While today’s headline inflation reading is unacceptably high, it is also out-of-date. Energy alone comprised nearly half of the monthly increase in inflation. Today’s data does not reflect the full impact of nearly 30 days of decreases in gas prices, that have reduced the price at the pump by about 40 cents since mid-June. Those savings are providing important breathing room for American families. And, other commodities like wheat have fallen sharply since this report.

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Importantly, today’s report shows that what economists call annual “core inflation” came down for the third month in a row, and is the first month since last year where the annual “core” inflation rate is below six percent.

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Jason Furman, a former top economic advisor to Democratic president Barack Obama might take issue with Biden’s characterization of core inflation. He shared several thoughts about the latest report on Twitter, which he described as “brutal” overall:

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The 12-month core CPI fell from 6.0% in the year through May to 5.9% in the year through June. But don’t get too excited–this is probably not telling you what you think it is.

All it says is that core inflation in the month of June-22 was slightly lower than it was in June-21.

— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) July 13, 2022

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It is more relevant to look at one month changes or, if you’re worried about noise, three month changes. In June core CPI increased at a nearly 9% annual rate. Over the last three months it was about an 8% annual rate. Those are both up. pic.twitter.com/Ee9dwMRgsj

— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) July 13, 2022

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This may best sum up the damage done by the inflation wave to Americans:

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The decline in real average hourly earnings at this point is terrible, the fastest pace of decline in 40 years. pic.twitter.com/92rKJFtQRD

— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) July 13, 2022

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Americans looking for relief from the country’s inflation spike did not find it in June, the latest data from the Labor Department confirmed.

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The consumer price index rose 9.1% last month compared to June 2021, its biggest 12-month increase since the same period in November 1981. It even accelerated compared to May, rising 1.3% compared to that month’s one percent increase.

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Dig deeper into the numbers and you’ll see a story of frustration and financial pain for people across the country. Grocery prices were up one percent compared to May and 10.4% over the prior 12 months. Gasoline prices have increased 59.9% over the past 12 months and 11.2% in June alone.

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Washington’s inflation fighter, the Federal Reserve, may respond to this report with another big interest rate increase later in July to cut into the demand drivers of inflation, as they did at their meeting last month. Biden has already seen inflation wreck his approval rating, but can hope that if Saudi Arabia agrees to bring more oil onto the market, the price of gasoline, an important contributor to inflation, will decline. Meanwhile, there’s evidence the gas price surge is already receding:

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29 days straight of declining #gasprices! We’re now down 40c/gal from the peak with Americans spending $150 million LESS on gasoline today alone vs June 14. National average $4.634/gal with over 10,000 stations at $3.99 or less. We will fall under $4.60 by the weekend.

— Patrick De Haan ⛽️📊 (@GasBuddyGuy) July 13, 2022

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Good morning, US politics reader. President Joe Biden has just landed in Israel for the first visit to the Middle East of his presidency, but even there, he won’t be able to escape the troubling state of the US economy. Inflation soared 9.1% in June compared to the same month last year, the government reported just minutes ago, and indeed, that problem will be on the agenda during his visit – convincing Saudi Arabia to raise oil production in a bid to lower gas prices in America is considered one of the president’s priorities.

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Here’s what else is happening today:

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• The Senate health committee will at 10 am eastern time be hearing from health care providers impacted by last month’s supreme court ruling overturning the right to abortion nationwide.

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• A new poll shows Democrats and Republicans are in a close race when it comes to which party voters would prefer controlling Congress.

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• With Biden set to visit Saudi Arabia, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, widow of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, said she had met with White House advisors and called on the US president to press Riyadh’s leadership for the release of political prisoners.

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Closing summary

President Joe Biden is in Israel, where he reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to one of its top allies. Meanwhile, back home, another month of sky-high inflation data rocked the Democratic leadership and caused a key senator to warn he may not be on board for big spending bills as long as prices keep increasing.

Here’s what else happened today:

• Biden saw support for his re-election plummet in a poll that said a mere 18 percent of respondents would back him in 2024.
• A suspect was arrested in the case of a girl who had to travel from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion after being raped, refuting the doubts of Ohio’s Republican attorney