Control of the Senate hinges on a few races where Biden’s policies seem to be the most unpopular.
A new poll out looking at blue-leaning battlegrounds in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, finds that Biden is underwater on every major issue that voters actually care about.
From the economy to immigration, the Biden administration is getting low marks. Keep in mind this polling comes from a group that is aligned with Biden so the lede is about his approval rating ticking up two points. The real meat and potatoes on issue after issue is that Democrats are underwater on the issues driving voters to the polls in November.
NBC News reports on the data and tries to paint a very rosy picture but the numbers, even from a Democrat-leaning poll, show Biden losing on all the key issues:
More than half, 56%, said they approve of Biden’s handling of the Covid response, and 50% approve of his handling of the war in Ukraine, while voters were evenly split over his handling of abortion and reproductive rights.
The poll found 54% said they disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy and jobs, 51% disapprove of his handling of health care, and 57% disapprove of how he has handled crime and public safety. At least 60% of respondents in the three battleground states said they disliked how Biden has handled immigration, inflation and the national debt.
Handling Covid-19, an issue that’s “over” according to Biden, and staying out of the war in Ukraine are basically freebie issues for the President. It would be hard to screw them up now as long as you stay out of them.
As for the issues that matter, the economy, health care, public safety, Biden’s sinking. The highest dissatisfaction is concerning immigration and the border with 60% disapproving of the way Biden is handling the situation. The porous southern border, which has seen a record number of encounters this year, continues to fester and cause pain to border states and allow an unfettered flow of illegal drugs into the country, an issue the Biden administration seems disinterested in.
Beyond swing state voters, over 90% of Americans as a whole are feeling “squeezed” in one way or another by Biden’s economy and inflation:
With mortgage rates, grocery bills and rents spiking across the country, an overwhelming majority of Americans now complain of being squeezed financially — a fifth of them seriously so — and millions are making cutbacks, a survey shows.
A staggering 92 percent of adults say rising costs are straining household budgets and 20 percent of them say they are seriously affected, says the poll of 3,000 adults by SellCell, a technology firm.
These are the issues that will matter in November as most voters end up voting from their wallets. It’s the daily cost of living causing the pain with Biden still unable to seemingly empathize or acknowledge the problem while he extols the virtues of electric vehicle tax credits. Gone are the days in late August when Democrats were feeling better about their midterm prospects. The economic reality can’t be changed overnight.
If this continues into November, and there’s no reason to think it won’t, Democrats are still very much playing defense on the economy, a position no incumbent party wants to be stuck in.
