Inflation rose to 9.1% in June, the highest the U.S. has seen in 40 years. Cheddar News' Megan Pratz breaks down what the new data tells us about the politics of the economy, and the difficulty President Biden faces ahead of the November midterm elections.

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Inflation Numbers Highlight Biden's Handling of Economy

waking up this thursday morning and it's waking up a day after we saw inflation climb 9.1% in the month of june Megan prats is live in Washington to bring us more of what this means for President biden and his party ahead of the midterms. Good morning Megan. Good morning baker. Good morning. Alicia T L E R. It's not good. Yesterday's inflation numbers exceeded expectations in the worst possible way prices were up 9.1% last month compared to the same time last year. It's the worst we've seen in 40 years and it puts President biden struggles on the economy into even sharper focus a poll from the new york times and Sienna College found only bad news for biden on the economy. Three quarters of americans rate the economy as extremely important. But just 33% of americans approve of the job biden is doing as president. Nearly 80% believe the country is going in the wrong direction and a whopping 93% of voters aged 18 to 64 rate the state of the economy as either fair, we're poor. None of those numbers are the ones you want to see if you're the president leading a party into crucial midterm elections and you especially don't want to see them if you're a democrat who has to answer for the president out on the campaign trail. But what's even harder for biden and democrats about the continuing economic stress is that there's not a whole lot. The president can do about inflation. He can't force other countries to start producing more oil. He can't fix the supply chain singlehandedly. He's already used most of the tools in his toolbox and he can't do much more without the help of Congress or state level lawmakers. Well, Megan. Are there any signs of hope for president biden when it comes to the economy right now? You know, Alicia baker, the President's statement reacting to the new data mentioned the slight dip we've seen in gas prices over the past few weeks. Welcome news for the american people and even other democrats like House Speaker nancy. Pelosi said they think we've hit the peak of inflation, but I feel like we've heard that before, right? They've been saying different versions of those things for months now. So it's difficult to see that there are any true saving graces if you're in the Democratic Party. All right, Megan prats breaking that all down for us in Washington. Megan. Thank you so much.