CNN seems confused by the results of its latest poll. “Despite months of increasingly positive economic indicators,” the outlet marveled, “the American public remains negative about the state of the nation’s economy.” The poll found that a majority of Americans “think the economy is still in a downturn and getting worse.” This sentiment represents a flashing-red warning sign for Democrats, CNN continues, because Joe Biden’s moribund overall job-approval ratings (41 percent) decline even further (37 percent) when voters “assess his handling of the economy.” When it comes to the president’s management of inflation, just three in ten American adults rate the president’s performance favorably.

This writeup reflects a sentiment common among center-left political scribes, many of whom appear to bear some resentment toward the Americans who have not fallen to their knees in gratitude to the White House amid slight improvements in some macroeconomic indices.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes mourned the extent to which partisan political dynamics affect the public’s “ability to assess the facts.” Today, “even cold, hard economic facts have become politically polarized,” he wrote. New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait chides the voting public for internalizing a “disconnect” over the economy by, for example, evaluating Biden’s performance based on distortions they encounter in the “news-media environment” or allowing “various social maladies” to influence their views of the economy. Joe Biden himself is dismissive of the pervasive sense of precarity among voters. With evidence that the rate of inflation isn’t growing with the same speed it did a year ago, Biden joked last week that Republicans might “decide to impeach me because it’s coming down.”

Both the administration and its vexed allies in media base their frustrations with voters on the efficacy of their efforts to bring down daily costs of living. It fails to register that, despite modest declines, the costs associated with essentials (like, say, food) are still between 5 and 6 percent higher today than they were one year ago. But actions speak louder than words. Some of those actions include the Biden administration’s recent decision to once again delay replenishing the nation’s depleted Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) because it’s just too expensive.

“The DOE remains committed to its replenishment strategy for the SPR, including direct purchases when we can secure a good deal for taxpayers,” said Energy Department Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Bartol. The White House has limited control over the cost of energy, though it is not completely unable to influence international energy markets by signaling its amenability to policies that would boost American contributions to global supplies. But if the White House is frustrated, it shouldn’t be difficult to understand why everyone else would be, too.