So much for the Summer of Bidenomics. After several months of trying to convince Americans that Joe Biden knows economics, the results show the president even worse off than before on nearly every measure, especially the economy.

And as both ABC and the Washington Post report from their new poll data, Biden has managed to do the impossible — generate a nostalgia wave for Donald Trump:

The poll also asked people whether, looking back, approve or disapprove of the way Trump handled the job of being president. The result was 48 percent saying they approve and 49 percent saying they disapprove. That 48 percent approval is 10 points better than when he left office in January 2021 and higher than it was through nearly the entirety of his presidency.

Biden has spent recent weeks promoting his economic record — “Bidenomics,” as he calls it — and has cited low unemployment, infrastructure spending and investment in programs to deal with climate change among other indicators as evidence of success. But worries about inflation have persisted and, in the Post-ABC survey, his approval on handling the economy has dropped to 30 percent, the lowest of his presidency.

Well, when the White House and Team Biden spend their summer p***ing on people’s heads and telling them it was rain, what did they expect? This demonstrates the danger of trying to spin a bad economy with voters, which no president since Jimmy Carter has really had to try. (This is not a coincidence, either.) Voters may be only partly engaged on other policy areas such as foreign relations, national security, housing, or even education, but Americans live the economy every single day. When prices go up and buying power erodes, they know it, and that reality cannot be spun into the political equivalent of fool’s gold.

Barack Obama had to dodge a bit on economic issues, which he accomplished mainly by blaming George W. Bush, even into a second term. But Obama didn’t touch off a massive inflationary wave either, nor did he ignore it for months before finally admitting to it. (His main problem was self-inflicted and completely unnecessary stagnation.) Obama, for all his other faults, was good at politics and messaging, and was helped by his personal charisma. Joe Biden is a disgraceful character and an utter incompetent, made worse by his obviously advancing senility.

Speaking of which, voters are noticing Biden’s increasing signals of incapacity. ABC News notices this, and tries a little rain dance of its own as misdirection:

A variety of factors may be at play. Biden’s poor performance ratings, the extent of economic discontent, the immigration crisis and doubts about his age clearly are relevant. All have been the subject of extensive recent news coverage, focusing public discourse on negatives for the president. Trump, meanwhile, has used his criminal indictments to bolster his base through claims of political persecution and enjoys positive coverage of his GOP frontrunner status.

Say what? Perhaps I missed both the “extensive recent news coverage” of Biden’s cognitive issues, along with all of Trump’s “positive coverage of his GOP frontrunner status.” Or perhaps someone at ABC News has smoked a bong for the entirety of the last several months. YMMV, but unless all of that Trump-positive, Biden-bashing media coverage took place during my two-week vacation in August, this is utterly ridiculous, Trump has never received positive media coverage as either president or ex-president, and the media has spent most of Biden’s presidency making one excuse after another for Doddering Joe. Remember when media outlets scolded Republicans for — they claimed — attacking Biden’s “stammer”?

Voters aren’t buying that either, nor much of anything from Biden at this point. It’s not just the economy, the numbers show:

Forty-four percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say they’ve gotten worse off financially under Biden’s presidency, the most for any president in ABC/Post polls since 1986. Just 37% approve of his job performance, while 56% disapprove. Still fewer approve of Biden’s performance on the economy, 30%.

On handling immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden’s rating is even lower, with 23% approval. In terms of intensity of sentiment, 20% strongly approve of his work overall, while 45% strongly disapprove. And the 74% who say he’s too old for a second term is up 6 percentage points since May. Views that Trump is too old also are up, but to 50% in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates.

Such is down-on-Biden sentiment that if a government shutdown occurs at month’s end, 40% say they’d chiefly blame him and the Democrats in Congress, versus 33% who’d pin it on the Republicans in Congress — even given the GOP infighting behind the budget impasse.

I’m surprised ABC News didn’t try to chalk that up to all of their “positive coverage” of House Republicans. Maybe I shouldn’t give them any ideas.