The question no longer seems to be whether the GOP will take control of the House and possibly the Senate as well in November, the question is how large the new majorities will be. This CNN report from a day ago with number cruncher Harry Enten hyperventilating over the “best position for Republicans in any midterm cycle in over 80 years” is something to behold.
Whether this is part truth-telling or part scare-tactic, that depends on who the intended audience is. There’s no denying the data, which is why having Enten at the big board deciphering the numbers provides more meat to this analysis compared to anecdotal gut feelings or projections.
Jake Tapper is aghast and depressed by the end of the segment at the sheer number of data points looking good for a Republican takeover of Congress this year.
It’s now becoming more and more clear why the infighting among White House staffers has begun in earnest. They know or at least fear Democrats are headed for a seismic defeat in November and no one in the Biden administration seems to be able to do anything to stop it or even slow it down.
This graphic on presidential approval is enough to make stomachs churn during White House strategy sessions:
Obama’s economy was slow and stagnant, but not to this level. Furthermore, Obama was a better orator and able to connect with people in a way that Biden simply can’t.
The fact that Biden is stuck in the basement with Jimmy Carter explains why there are so many parallels between the current period and the late 1970s. A feckless Commander in Chief presiding over a failed economy unable or unwilling to change course and humbly adjust policies.
Despite all the handwringing in the White House and complaints from Biden that he’s not getting credit for, in his view, a growing economy, numbers like this explain why it’s a losing issue:
There are a lot of bad numbers kicking around the political world for President Joe Biden and his party in Congress at the moment, but none may be worse than this one: -45.
That’s Gallup’s most recent Economic Confidence Index number, which “summarizes Americans’ ratings of current economic conditions and whether the economy is getting better or worse.” The index ranges from +100 (very good) to -100 (very bad). The rating from May of -45 is the public’s most negative view of the economy Gallup has measured since the end of the Great Recession in early 2009.
The numbers inside Gallup’s index provide more daunting news for Democrats. Just 14% of Americans said that economic conditions in the US are “excellent” or “good.” More than three times that number – 46% – said economic conditions were “poor” and 39% rated them as “only fair.” That’s even worse than where Gallup found things in April, when 1 in 5 Americans said that the state of the economy was either “excellent” or “good,” while 42% said they were “poor.”
Every time Biden opens his mouth to defend his economic policies, he loses more credibility. It’s no longer debatable that this administration has failed, it’s written all over the country on grocery store shelves and gas station signs. The hole is so deep that not even a potential Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade will help Democrats in November.
The stunning part is how far Biden fell and how quickly the fall took place. From January of 2021, entering office with over 50% approval as most new presidents do, to June of 2022 where he’s sharing the basement-level apartment with Jimmy Carter.
