President Joe Biden’s upbeat message that the economy is healthy crashed into reality on Thursday when the federal government reported that U.S. gross domestic production declined 0.35 percent during the first three months of 2022 — an annual rate of 1.4 percent.

And the news couldn’t come at a worse time for Democrats. A bombshell new poll, released just before the stunning economic forecast, shows the Republican Party commands a jaw-dropping with just 193 days until the 2022 midterm elections.

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Even experts were stunned by the recent FDRLST/Susquehanna Poll, which reported that Republicans currently enjoy a jaw-dropping 10-point advantage among voters in a generic ballot test.

“The new poll found that 49 percent of likely voters would vote for Republicans if the elections were held today, versus just 39 percent who said they would pull the lever for the Democrat candidate,” The Federalist, a conservative news site, reported Thursday. That’s a four-point jump from their same poll in February.

According to the data, it seems Republican messages are resonating with voters — especially issues like parental rights and keeping female sports separate from male-born competitors.

Meanwhile, Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package was supposed to propel the economy to new heights that Democrats could then sell to voters in this year’s midterm elections. Instead, an economic downturn and high inflation have weakened Biden’s pitch and emboldened Republican criticism.

“The poll found that President Joe Biden’s approval rating has fallen to just 39 percent, with 54 percent of likely voters saying they disapproved of Biden’s job performance thus far, for a net disapproval rating of 15 percent,” The Federalist reported. “In the site’s February poll, 42 percent of voters approved of Biden’s job performance while 52 percent disapproved.”

The president scored particularly poor marks in the poll on issues like the southern border crisis, rising crime rates, the economy and inflation, and record-high gas prices.

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The president fired back Thursday and told reporters at the White House that the consumer spending and business investment portions of the GDP report were solid, and claimed it was evidence that growth should resume in the months to come.

“What you’re seeing is enormous growth in the country that was affected by everything from COVID and the COVID blockages that occurred along the way,” Biden said.

But Biden conceded there was concern the economic downturn could continue.

“You’re always worried about a recession,” he said.

To Republican lawmakers and many economists, the drop in GDP hinted at the risk posed by surging inflation. Consumers have grown skittish despite increases in their net worth. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created supply chain issues. There is a global risk of oil, natural gas, and food shortages. And China’s totalitarian pandemic-related lockdowns indicate that supplies chains troubles will persist.

Following last year’s coronavirus spending spree, the government is now trying to calm the economy. There is less fiscal support as the federal deficit will likely be lower this year. At the same time, the Federal Reserve is trying to raise benchmark interest rates to reduce inflation without causing a downturn.

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But Thursday’s report gave Republican lawmakers yet another direct line of attack.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, our economy is actually shrinking,” Texas Rep. Kevin Brady said at the start of a House Ways & Means Committee hearing on Thursday. “The president has missed four of the five quarterly economic projections. So Americans ought to brace for slower job growth and higher prices ahead.”

On Thursday afternoon, Biden tried to pull attention away from the report by inviting small business owners to the White House. He noted that Americans have emerged from the pandemic as more entrepreneurial with 5.4 million applying last year to start new businesses. That’s 20% higher than any other year on record.

“We have every indication that this trend is going to continue,” Biden said, putting the morning’s GDP report behind him. “The reason for that is because we’re giving people financial security to take a risk and pursue their small business dreams.”

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The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.