It seems like just months ago Democrats were reassuring their party base that President Biden’s fortunes would soon turn around. Covid-19 would be under control, prices would stabilize, and the Commander in Chief would help a country out of supply chain problems and usher in a prosperous 2022.
All of that wishful thinking has been a pipe dream among Democrats fooling themselves into believing there is some level of untapped wisdom or successful strategy the White House just hasn’t rolled out yet. Newsflash, there is none. It’s managing one crisis to the next, leaving a trail of destruction, and letting the favorable media try to clean it up.
As Newsweek now notes, however, we are just six months until November and Democrats still don’t have any leadership on issues like inflation or the economy, things that voters care about deeply:
Poll tracker FiveThirtyEight assessed Biden’s approval rating by analyzing a wide variety of polls and using its own system of pollster ratings. They found the president’s approval stood at 40.7 percent as of Monday, while 54.1 percent disapproved of Biden.
Those figures represent a decline over the past month as Biden’s approval stood at 41.7 percent on April 29 and his disapproval rating was 52.3 percent.
At 40.7 percent, Biden’s approval is also at a near-record low, according to FiveThirtyEight’s analysis. The president’s lowest approval rating came on February 27 when the poll tracker found his approval stood at just 40.4 percent, while disapproval of Biden was 53.3 percent.
Biden’s downward trajectory is now cemented for many months to come. Record inflation month after month driving up prices and mismanaged issues like a baby formula shortage continue to do damage.
Perhaps this is why NBC News, of all places, says Biden’s White House is “adrift” and Democrats nationwide can offer voters no good explanations or solutions:
Faced with a worsening political predicament, President Joe Biden is pressing aides for a more compelling message and a sharper strategy while bristling at how they’ve tried to stifle the plain-speaking persona that has long been one of his most potent assets.
Biden is rattled by his sinking approval ratings and is looking to regain voters’ confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign, people close to the president say.
Crises have piled up in ways that have at times made the Biden White House look flat-footed: record inflation, high gas prices, a rise in Covid case numbers — and now a Texas school massacre that is one more horrific reminder that he has been unable to get Congress to pass legislation to curb gun violence. Democratic leaders are at a loss about how he can revive his prospects by November, when midterm elections may cost his party control of Congress.
Call it a refusal to acknowledge any reality beyond the Democratic partisan bubble.
Call it hubris and arrogance that sometimes accompanies the “smartest people in the room” who know for a fact they have all the answers even if they’re not producing positive results.
Call it a downplaying of one crisis after another as some kind of partisan “right-wing Fox News” propaganda piece aimed at playing “gotcha” with an out-of-touch administration.
Whatever you call it, some Democrats are getting worried about it and see a presidency that can’t seem to pivot past the level of incompetent:
“I don’t know what’s required here,” said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., whose endorsement in the 2020 Democratic primaries helped rescue Biden’s struggling candidacy. “But I do know the poll numbers have been stuck where they are for far too long.”
Speculation is churning that Biden could shake up the West Wing staff, although that’s not about to happen right away. Multiple people close to the White House said they’ve heard that chief of staff Ron Klain will depart at some point after the midterms, and one has heard him discuss leaving.
Staff shakeups are the way of “doing something” to accomplish nothing. The problem isn’t the staff, although Biden’s White House is filled with unqualified “check the box” types for filling out a cabinet that values diversity over experience. The problem is the leadership at the top has no vision for the country and may not have the mental wherewithal to actually lead his staff in the right direction.
In short, this is a White House in this predicament for a reason. Biden has been so flat-footed on every problem that came at him since the days of last Spring of calling “Mission Accomplished” on Covid-19 only to discover the lie that vaccination halts transmission.
A faulty premise built on a foundation of lies set this presidency down a bad path.
Democrats in districts from New York to California are finding themselves trying to explain what the White House is doing and listening to angry voters complaining about gas prices, housing prices, grocery bills, and everything else that’s eating household budgets.
Democrats need the issue of abortion to help drive some voter turnout and avert a total rout, but will they get it? Perhaps in closely divided House districts where a potential overturning of Roe v. Wade drives another percentage point of Democrats to the polls, maybe they can retain a few seats they would have lost.
The down elevator is stuck in the “on” position for Biden regarding his approval rating. Ever since the numbers began declining in the summer of 2021, nothing the White House has tried has done anything to reverse the course. The midterms are coming soon whether Democrats are ready or not.
