Joe Biden ran to be the anti-Trump, in as many ways as possible. But his presidency now resembles Trump's in a way that his team likely never imagined. Behold, the FiveThirtyEight job approval polling average, at identical stages of the last two presidencies:
Biden's approval rating now as low as Trump's at this stage of his presidencyhttps://t.co/sh849b9Ndp pic.twitter.com/2iglXLcsaw
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) February 18, 2022
The RealClearPolitics average is almost exactly the same. House Democrats gained 40 seats in 2018, then Trump lost re-election in 2020. Biden's trajectory is not terribly promising. Part of his problem, and his party's in general, is that Democratic voters' priorities are out of whack with the rest of the country's top concerns. Republicans and independents are largely focused on the same problems. Democrats...are not:
From Quinnipiac poll: "What is the most urgent issue facing the country today?"
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) February 17, 2022
Inflation clear winner among GOP and Indies, 36% and 32%, respectively.
For Dems it's #3 at 13%, behind climate change and election laws. pic.twitter.com/BvCNtQiRKI
And per the Democrats' own internal polling, they're extremely vulnerable COVID issues -- and even more so on other cultural battles:
New: I got a look at DCCC internal polling as Dems roll back restrictions
— Eric Ting (@_ericting) February 17, 2022
57% of voters in competitive House districts agree with the statement "Democrats in Congress have taken things too far in their pandemic response"
Rises to 66% with swing votershttps://t.co/2hdZHEhcmt
Ting adds, "while the DCCC poll found that COVID policy attacks were 'alarming,' it also found that attacks on the border, CRT and spending were even more alarming." That's a target-rich environment for the GOP, across an array of attack lines. Defunding the police, open borders and radical racial school curricula are all associated the Democratic brand, particularly among swing voters. Coddling and caving to the hard Left has had consequences for the party's leadership, it seems. A few brutal excerpts:
Choose your fighter pic.twitter.com/u7UoTE3ra5
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) February 18, 2022
This also aligns with a recent Politico report:
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Democrats’ own research shows that some battleground voters think the party is “preachy,” “judgmental” and “focused on culture wars,” according to documents obtained by POLITICO. And the party’s House campaign arm had a stark warning for Democrats: Unless they more forcefully confront the GOP’s “alarmingly potent” culture war attacks, from critical race theory to defunding the police, they risk losing significant ground to Republicans in the midterms...If Democrats don’t answer Republican hits, the party operatives warned, the GOP’s lead on the generic ballot balloons to 14 points from 4 points — a dismal prediction for Democrats when the GOP only needs to win five seats to seize back the majority. But when voters heard a Democratic response to that hit, Republicans’ edge narrowed back down to 6 points, giving candidates more of a fighting chance...The internal presentation underscored some of those anxieties: The GOP hits are most effective with center-left voters, independents and Hispanic voters, demographic groups that Democrats have struggled to attract in recent years.
No wonder the 'Science' has 'changed,' so rapidly and abruptly. Democrats got the memo and realized how much trouble they're in. And thus, other reported decisions have been reversed. This may impact my proposal on the GOP's best State of the Union Address response:
NEW — ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS will be permitted to attend SOTU on March 1, per attending physician.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 17, 2022
Below is the #CovidTheatre rituals required to attend the State of the Union
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 18, 2022
No thank you, maybe next time pic.twitter.com/Fe0BSthVjk
Social distancing, plus (COVID-irrelevant) hand sanitizer, plus no physical contact with anyone, plus fitted medical grade masks to be work at all times. Compare those rules with the conduct of people at the Super Bowl, for instance, and Pelosi's regulations look ridiculous. Maybe Republicans should hold the Youngkin show in Richmond after all. Relatedly, I'll leave you with this:
Here’s 3 minutes of Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul hugging, kissing, and shaking hands with people maskless.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 17, 2022
Hochul is still forcing masks on toddlers. pic.twitter.com/n852krFdCU
