Former Vice President Al Gore said Democrats should respect former President Trump’s supporters, suggesting they’re just using him “as a vehicle” to express their anger.
Gore, who served as President Clinton’s No. 2 until 2001, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Saturday that his followers are merely utilizing the former president’s White House bid to project dissatisfaction with the way the country is heading, particularly the economy.
“I respect his supporters,” Gore said on CNN’s “The Amanpour Hour.” “And I think it’s really important in this campaign season for people to maintain respect for his supporters. Many of them, are using Trump as a vehicle to express their anger at how they, don’t think things have been going in the right direction.”
Asked by Amanpour about how President Biden’s supporters could counter that narrative, he touted the upward trajectory the administration had in January, including the positive jobs report. Last month, the U.S. added 353,000 jobs and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent.
“I think that more and more people are just now beginning to wake up to the fact that things are beginning to go in the right direction,” Gore said. “Inflation has come down dramatically. Now the political influence is still there. But, ten months from now, if the trend continues, inflation may not be an issue.”
“Employment is at all-time record high levels,” he continued, in comments highlighted by Mediaite. “The unemployment has been at record lows. Inequality is being reduced. And the wages are going up faster in the lowest income brackets. That’s something many of us have wanted and worked for for a long time.”
The stunning jobs report, released Friday by the Department of Labor, exceeded the expectations from economists polled by the Wall Street Journal.
Still, inflation and high prices remain top of mind for many voters. The Federal Reserve held interest rates at a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent earlier this week, as it waits for “greater confidence” that inflation is under control.
Biden, who on Saturday easily won the South Carolina primary, has bumped heads with Trump recently over the economy as he ramps up his pitch to voters, as some of them are still not sold on his handling of the nation’s economy — with just 28 percent rating it excellent or good, according to Pew Research Center survey released last weekend.