Capital Economy, Business and Finance
Biden’s signature climate legislation aimed to create jobs and woo voters in Sun Belt states, flipping the prizes of Georgia and North Carolina from red to blue.
But the Inflation Reduction Act hasn’t done what it says on the tin (not in time, anyway). Even in Bartow, Georgia, where manufacturing jobs associated with the IRA account for 12 per cent of the county’s workforce, Trump’s share of the vote went up.
It’s a similar story in North Carolina, which gained more than 100,000 clean energy jobs in 2023. Randolph County, home to a new Toyota battery factory and 3,000 jobs, voted 54 per cent for Biden in 2020. With nearly all votes in the county counted, this time it voted 79 per cent for Trump.
Inflation in the Sun Belt has actually been falling faster than the national average, but this seems to be largely confined to metropolitan areas. Turnout in rural areas helped swing North Carolina for Trump.
Bottom line: it’s still the economy, stupid. Employment counts for nil if it’s not felt in people’s pockets.
