President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders are doing everything they can to hold on to congressional majorities ahead of this year’s election, but several signs suggest party turnout will be significantly lower than in 2020.
Despite seeing an average 3- to 5-point bump during the early weeks of the war in Ukraine, Biden’s approval ratings have sunk back to term lows and currently hover around 40%. A Marquette University Law School poll shows his approval within the black community, one of the most historically reliable Democratic voting blocs, at just 56%, a more than 30-point dip since he entered office.
ON UKRAINE, BIDEN FACES UNWINNABLE WAR AT HOME
Even fewer people approve of Congress’s performance over the past year. Multiple failed attempts by Democrats to pass voting rights legislation and Biden’s social spending bill have led to just a 21% approval rating, down from a session high of 36% in March 2021.
Meanwhile, a series of focus groups conducted by HIT Strategies with black and young voters suggest that party leaders in Washington are simply out of touch with how the public perceives top issues, the economy and rising crime in particular.
According to Politico, participants in a focus group conducted on Monday consistently used words such as “anxious,” “concerned,” “exhausted,” “unsure,” and “uptight” to describe how they feel about their personal safety and financial status.
The outlet highlighted one woman who expressed concern about recurring food shortages at her local grocery store, adding that the price of “everything is going up, and there’s no end in sight.”
Polling consistently reveals people disapprove of Biden’s economic stewardship, with the latest data collected by NBC showing Biden’s economic disapproval rating at 63%. Furthermore, a February poll released by progressive polling company Navigator Research shows that nearly 40% of the country believes the economy has lost jobs under Biden, when in reality, 8 million were created.
Despite all of the negative polling Democrats face, senior party officials tell the Washington Examiner it’s simply too far out from when ballots are cast in November to gauge whether this can be overcome.
“Most people aren’t tuned into the everyday happenings in D.C., but they are understandably tuned into what’s happening in their real-world lives,” one official explained. “We’re a little over six months out, and we’re talking about how everybody who wants a job can get a job right now, but the American people are frustrated — I don’t think anybody is denying that — with gas prices, with inflation.”
One official noted that with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress and the presidency, the party’s voters tuned out day-to-day politics after the election, as opposed to Republicans, who are “watching Fox News, and OAN, and Newsmax everyday and getting really hyped up.”
That official claimed that as the election cycle spins up, the party will start inundating voters with messaging on how Republicans “don’t have a real plan” to fix the claimed economic shortfalls of Biden and Democrats. The person added that the economic proposal raised by Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is, essentially, “tax poor people” and would be a “gift” for Democrats this cycle.
“Republicans are putting their foot in their mouth and highlighting what a Republican majority would look like,” the official concluded. “I think that is going to be motivating for a lot of people as we get through the summer, and you see more ads. [Democratic] voters will become much more enthusiastic as they tune into the election.”
Biden himself has pledged to travel more and ramp up his efforts to help Democrats hold on to tightly contested seats. Those trips, however, have yet to materialize really as the White House deals with the war in Ukraine.
Tuesday might have previewed the party’s messaging strategy for later this year, as Biden hosted former President Barack Obama for an event commemorating the 12-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
Obama consistently polls as the party’s most popular politician, with Biden ranking fifth, and throughout the event, the pair repeatedly claimed Republicans would try to roll back Obamacare and other policies should they retake congressional majorities.
“I’m a private citizen now, but I still take more than a passing interest in the course of our democracy, but I’m outside the arena, and I know how discouraged people can get with Washington,” Obama stated near the conclusion of his remarks. “President Joe Biden understands that. He has dedicated his life to the proposition that there’s something worthy about public service and that the reason to run for office is for days like today.”
While exiting the event, reporters asked Obama if he had any advice for Democrats “anxious” about the midterm elections.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“We’ve got a story to tell,” he replied. “Just got to tell it.”
