This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden with a couple of strong victories in his pocket, but also with a public that is less and less impressed with him.
New polling has him at his lowest point, many think he is incompetent, and it is all adding up to stall part of his agenda, including this week’s House-passed $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” social welfare spending plan and his signing of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
He received his first annual physical as president, and many questions were raised. But in the end, his doctor gave him a thumbs up. Biden ended the week with the annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkeys much earlier than past presidents so that he could jet off to his Delaware home.
Democratic pollster John Zogby said that Biden has lots to build on, but the president can’t get going on his agenda before he first builds back support for his brand. Conservative grader Jed Babbin, meanwhile, said it was another mediocre week for the president who “won a few and lost a few this week with the wins overshadowed by the losses.”
John Zogby
Grade C
Biden’s average approval rating is now at 41%. A few most recent polls have him in the mid- to high-30s. He is receiving upside-down grades on the economy, foreign policy, immigration, and even his handling of COVID-19.
Regarding the pandemic, data from the past two weeks reveal a spiking of new cases, including several states where the vaccination rates are high. It remains a troubling, vexing, and confusing issue.
The president won a big vote in the House for his “Build Back Better” initiative. He continues to face an uphill battle uniting his party in the Senate. So, the next few weeks will be pivotal for his legislation, his administration, and his legacy.
Even with passage in the House, Biden has lost control of the narrative on this initiative, and his polling numbers will have to improve before he can take the high moral ground. At the end of the week, he can smile about the victory in the House, but he has to worry about the conundrum of building his support before he can build the nation better.
Jed Babbin
Grade D
Biden won a few and lost a few this week with the wins overshadowed by the losses.
Biden had two “Seinfeld summits” this week, one with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the other with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts. They were about nothing, like the Seinfeld show. We should be grateful that nothing resulted from the late-night meeting with Xi. The “Three Amigos” summit was all smiles, with no substance.
Vice President Kamala Harris said that she liked her job, but what that is remains a mystery. She has been shunted out of anything that she could damage (which is everything), but she continues to have responsibility for the border mess Biden created.
Biden’s wins were in his signing the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and in House passage Friday of his “Build Back Better” plan. Biden and the White House insist that it is totally paid for, but the Congressional Budget Office disagreed. The CBO found it was $367 billion short of being paid for despite gimmicky accounting and tax hikes that would give the United States the highest tax rates in the developed world. The CBO also found that it would raise the deficit by about $750 billion over five years.
The BBB bill now goes to the Senate, where passage is unlikely in its current form thanks to West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. As Yogi Berra said, it’s not over until it’s over, and Biden isn’t going to get what he wants from the Senate.
Biden suffered two big losses in court this week. One circuit court enjoined his vaccine mandate. A district court enjoined enforcement of his executive order barring oil and gas production on federal lands. The vaccination mandate and the executive order on oil and gas operations are both going the way of the dodo bird.
Meanwhile, a Texas church congregation was chanting “Let’s go, Brandon,” and a rapper made a hit Christmas song out of that chant. Biden is sinking in the polls and wondering why. People are suffering from #Bidenflation because of his wild spending this year. He’s already signed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill and the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Now, Biden wants another $1.75 trillion BBB plan (which would actually spend about $4 trillion). The BBB plan would enact the “Green New Deal,” make green cards easier to get for a few hundred thousand illegal immigrants, create huge subsidies for the rich with relief of state and local taxes (subsidizing residents of states such as New York, New Jersey, and California at the expense of everybody else), and put a Tesla in every liberal’s garage.
Biden is blaming oil companies for the big increase in the price of gasoline. How does that match up with his actions killing pipelines and prohibiting oil drilling on federal lands while killing U.S. jobs? He’s just as clueless on economic matters as he is on foreign policy.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and 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
