The president’s approval ratings had been in the basement for much of the year, but after a string of victories, Democrats are giving him higher marks as they work to maintain control of Congress.
After months of Democratic discontent with President Joe Biden and the state of the country, Democrats are returning home – just in time for the party’s doomed midterm elections.
Polling shows that dissatisfaction in the Democratic base – women, Black and Hispanic voters, and young people dissatisfied with the pace of progressive reforms they seek and concerned about inflation – has contributed to Biden’s low approval ratings for much of the year.
However, following a string of legislative victories for the president and an energized base due to the Supreme Court ruling undoing guaranteed abortion right.
Biden has recently received higher marks from voters who are critical to Democrats as they battle to retain control of the Senate and House this fall.
According to an NBC poll released over the weekend, Biden’s popularity among his supporters has increased significantly. According to the polls, more than half of female voters (52%) now approve of Biden’s performance, up from 47% in August. The same was true among Hispanics (who increased their approval of Biden from 40% in August to 48% this month) and voters aged 18-34, who increased their approval of Biden from 36% in August to 48% this month.
The same poll found Democrats and Republicans tied on the “generic ballot,” or whether voters preferred Democrats or Republicans to run Congress. That represents a marginal improvement for Democrats, who trailed the GOP 47% to 45% in August, but it is not statistically significant.
Biden’s remarksÂ
Biden told an overflow crowd of thousands at Montgomery High School in Rockville: “This year, your right to vote is on the ballot. The Social Security you paid for while working is on the ballot. The safety of your children from gun
violence is on the ballot, and it’s not hyperbole to say that our planet’s survival is on the ballot.”
“You have to make a decision,” Biden added. “Will we be a forward-thinking or a backward-thinking country?”
The events, which took place in the safe Democratic Washington suburbs, were intended to ease Biden into what White House aides will be an aggressive campaign of championing his policy victories and assisting his party’s candidates. He hopes to convert months of legislative accomplishments into political energy, as Democrats’ hopes have risen amid Biden and Congress’s legacy-defining burst of action.
Biden highlighted the accomplishments of the party’s unified but razor-thin control of Washington, from bipartisan action on gun control, infrastructure, and domestic technology manufacturing to Democrats-only efforts to address climate change and health-care costs. And he attempted to highlight the contrast with Republicans, who appeared to be on track for big victories in November.
Cartoon On The Democratic partyÂ
Recent polling by Siena College for The New York Times shows similar trends. The percentage of Democrats who believe the country is on the “right track” jumped from 27% in July to 50% in September, the Times poll found, and Biden’s approval rating among Democrats went from 70% in July to 83% this month.
Meanwhile, according to an AP-NORC poll, Biden’s approval rating among Democrats increased from 65% in July to 78% in September.
Those figures may or may not have any bearing on Biden’s political future. He told CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night that while it is his “intention” to run for re election in 2024, it “remains to be seen.”
However, his approval rating has the potential to influence turnout. As the summer months approached, party operatives worried that disgruntled Democrats would be unmotivated to vote at all. Recent polls paint a more positive picture for Democrats, with the Siena College/Times poll finding that
roughly equal percentages of Republicans and Democrats – 52% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats – are “almost certain” to vote this fall.
YouGov polling also shows that Democrats are doing better among their core voters. Democrats now have a 25-point advantage (50.9% to 26.1%) among Hispanics, up from a dangerously low 6-point advantage (43.3% to 37.1%) in July.
According to YouGov, voters under 30 prefer Democrats by a 27-point margin (49.1 to 21.8), up from a 5-point lead (38.7 to 33.5) in February. Democrats had a 5 percentage point advantage among female voters in March (42.1% to 37%). Still, after the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, Democrats’ advantage widened dramatically, reaching a high in late August of 51.7% to Republicans’ 31.5% support.
Black voters, who make up a sizable portion of the Democratic base, appear to be warming back up to Biden. In the summer, there were signs that Black support for Biden was dwindling; according to a July Washington Post poll, 7 in 10 Black voters approved of Biden, but only 23% “strongly” approved of him. According to a Siena College/New York Times poll released earlier this month, 72% of Black voters approve of Biden, with 34% rating him “very favourably.”
The polling does not guarantee a Democratic victory, either in individual races or in party control of Congress, because Americans are still concerned about inflation, crime, and other issues where Republicans are more trusted to handle them, according to polling. In addition, the party in power in the White House has a history of losing seats in Congress in midterm elections.
However, the recent polling is good news for Democrats, who had been one of Biden’s most significant problems in previous polls. Moderate Democrats were dissatisfied with high gas prices, inflation, and crime, while progressives felt Biden was failing to make the policy changes they desired in areas such as social spending and climate change.
However, as the midterm elections approach, many progressives are considering their options this fall and are rallying behind Democrats – or, at the very least, against Republicans, activists say.
“Progressives can absolutely be frustrated with the pace of progress and understand the stakes that are ahead of us, “Nse Ufot, chief executive officer of
the New Georgia Project, a progressive organization, said during a recent conference call to discuss the organization’s efforts to register and turn out voters. “Exactly what we’re seeing,” she stated.
On “60 Minutes,” Biden shrugged off a question about whether he was too old or not mentally fit enough to run the country or run again at the age of 79. When his age was mentioned, the president replied, “Pretty good shape, huh?” When asked
how he felt about people questioning his mental acuity, Biden added, “Watch me.” “Honest to God, that’s all I’m thinking: Keep an eye on me.”
News Source:- https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-09-19/democrats-are-coming-home-to-joe-biden
