Former Home Depot CEO says US businesses have ‘more uncertainty now’ in more than 50 years

With economic pressure at the forefront of voters’ minds, one American business leader warned President Biden about being “overconfident” on U.S. fiscal health.

“I’ve been at this for 52 years, and I think that I see more uncertainty now than I’ve ever seen in our country in running corporations across a broad sector of businesses,” former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli said on “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” Monday.

“I was just in L.A. a couple of weeks ago, I paid $6.43 a gallon for gas. So it still has a lot of pressure on us out there,” he added. “We hear about UPS potentially going on strike and some of the other things that are out there with United and the [United Auto Workers], so I think we have more uncertainty.”

A new FOX Business poll released Sunday showed just over half of primary voters say economic issues such as inflation, jobs, and taxes will be most important in deciding their vote for the nomination (51%).

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Foreign policy/defense issues, immigration issues such as border security, and social issues like abortion, religion, and gender tie for second at 12% each. Populist issues such as corruption and elite power rank at the bottom with 7%.

Nardelli encouraged Republicans to take a “dominant” campaign stance on improving the state of the economy.

“What we see is the level of dissatisfaction and uncertainty with this administration in going forward,” the business leader said. “So I think we’ve got to take this very seriously. I think we have to continue to surface these issues that confront the economy, confront all of us here in the United States.”

Though inflation dropped in June to the lowest pace in more than two years, providing welcome relief to American consumers who have been crushed by unrelenting price increases, Biden’s “lost” influence will turn his supporters away, Nardelli argued.

“We still have a multitude of uncertainties that we’re facing. No. 1, we still have a growing, lawless society. Crime is out of control,” he said. “We still have a border issue… I think our energy reserve is down 40%. It’s at an all-time low that we’re facing. Labor unrest, we could see UPS, for example, go on strike, which would have a devastating impact on the economy.”

“Corporate America is struggling,” Nardelli continued.

Speaking to a crowd of union supporters on Thursday in Philadelphia, Biden appeared to tout economic progress he’s already made.

“I’m not here to declare victory. We got a long way to go in the economy,” President Biden had said. “I’m here to say we have more work to do. We have a plan that’s turning things around pretty quickly. Bidenomics is just another way of saying ‘restore the American dream.’”

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FOX Business’ Victoria Balara and Fox News’ Elizabeth Heckman contributed to this report.