White House Report Card: At the end, Zogby says GOP ‘has a clear advantage’

NETWORKS: 87% GOP COVERAGE ‘NEGATIVE,’ 100% FOR KARI LAKE

In his last analysis before Election Day, Democratic pollster John Zogby told Secrets that the edge Republicans have held for weeks appears to continue and that the party “has a clear advantage going into Election Day.”

One surprising reason is because women are ditching the Democrats, likely due to the higher costs of food and gas and surging crime in neighborhoods and stores they shop in. “It’s the House and Senate Republicans that are making the most gains on issues including inflation, crime, and immigration,” said Zogby, who graded Biden’s week a lackluster C-.

Another top pollster, Rasmussen Reports, agreed and said that the Republican advantage on the so-called generic ballot is huge, about 5 percentage points. In the analysis, Rasmussen said that Biden is losing independent voters big time.

“The Republican lead is due mainly to a 13-point advantage among independent voters. Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Republican voters say they would vote for their own party’s congressional candidate, while 84% of Democrats would vote for the Democratic candidate. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 46% would vote Republican and 33% would vote Democrat, while 8% would vote for some other candidate and 13% are undecided,” said Rasmussen.

Conservative analyst Jed Babbin, grading an F, said that Biden’s call for former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton to help out was a clear desperation move.

John Zogby
Grade C-

Sometimes good numbers are just not good enough.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 261,000 new jobs were created in October and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.7%. Wages continued to climb — despite the Federal Reserve raising interest rates massively in 2022. The economy had not slowed, but inflation continued to be top of mind on voters’ minds in the weekend prior to the election.

As I write this, the GOP has a clear advantage going into Election Day. They have substantial leads in competitive districts and states and are poised for upsets in states that weren’t on the radar screen earlier in the year.

Biden is touting the progress he has made on climate change, job growth, green energy investment, student loan forgiveness, and more. But it’s the House and Senate Republicans that are making the most gains on issues including inflation, crime, and immigration.

Democrats have tried to focus their attention on abortion and perceived Republican threats to democracy. These two topics got them back into the game in the late summer and early fall, but a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that white suburban women are tilting toward the GOP.

I continue to warn my colleagues not to get too far ahead of the game with aggregating polls and making projections. All is looking good for the GOP right now, but show restraint. These are “very, very, very probably” (to borrow a phrase from a former president) “close races.”

Jed Babbin
Grade F

It was a week of desperation for Biden as it looks like the “red wave” is about to crush his dinghy on Election Day. There was nothing good for the president this week.

Biden’s mental decline was obvious again. He said he had spoken to the man who invented insulin. Insulin was discovered (not invented) by scientists Sir Frederick Banting, Charles Best, and JJR McLeod in 1921. Banting died before Biden was born. Maybe Biden is talking to ghosts.

Biden again said his late son Beau died in Iraq (he died at Maryland’s Walter Reed Army Hospital) and confused Iraq with Ukraine for a moment. In a Florida speech, he claimed that America’s inflation rate (8.2%) was the lowest in the world. It obviously isn’t. Japan’s, for example, is 3.0%. He also said that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) was his best friend in the Senate. She’s a House member.

Biden proposed a windfall profits tax on oil companies that he wants to cut prices at the pump. They won’t for many reasons, not the least of which is that Biden has been at war with them since he came to office. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates again, hoping to slow rampaging inflation. Its moves will probably plunge us into a very long recession.

NETWORKS: 87% GOP COVERAGE ‘NEGATIVE,’ 100% FOR KARI LAKE

Because Biden is so unpopular, the Democrats called former President Barack Obama off the bench and got him to speak about the midterm election and how important it was to elect more Democrats. On Wednesday, Biden gave a speech at Washington’s Union Station about how voting for Republicans endangers our democracy. Both Obama and Biden seemed to be saying that voting for those you’d like to elect to office is a danger to democracy unless you vote for their team. That sounds more like autocracy than democracy.

Tonight, we’re going to turn our clocks back an hour because Daylight Savings Time is over for the year. I wish I could turn mine back to about 1983 when we had a tough, competent president and our allies and enemies actually paid attention to what he said.

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and managing partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin