Just three months into Joe Biden’s presidency, his polling numbers were already showing signs that the honeymoon was over. A Washington Post/ABC News poll taken at the time showed that despite incessant media fangirling, Biden’s approval rating sat at 52%, which was the third-lowest 100-day rating since the days of President Harry Truman.
Things haven’t gotten any better since that time as Biden has taken hits for his handling of the economy, the Wuhan virus pandemic, the border crisis, and Afghanistan. In fact, a trifecta of polls released within a 24-hour time span of each other last week showed some of the worst numbers of his presidency but he still remained above the 40% approval rating mark.
With each week that passes by for Joe Biden comes new lows, which was demonstrated in a brutal fashion just today as a new YouGov/Economist poll shows him dropping to under 40% for the first time in any poll since his inauguration:
A closer look at the numbers shows just how bad they are for Biden (note: black voters were actually 55/26):
Perhaps the most demoralizing of all for the Biden administration was how those surveyed for this poll (1,500 total with 1,264 being registered voters) gave him basement-level marks for his ability to unify the country, which was a key promise he made during his presidential campaign:
Further, the poll indicated a “sharp decline” in the “overall sense” of where America is headed:
Alongside declining public approval of the president, there also has been a sharp decline in Americans’ overall sense of where the country itself is headed. This week, only one in four Americans (26%) believe the country is headed in the right direction, down from 39% in the June 5-9 poll. Six in ten (60%) see the country as on the wrong track, up from 48% in the same June poll.
This is quite literally the stuff that gives new presidential administrations nightmares. If a majority of voters feel a country is headed in the wrong direction, that generally means catastrophic midterms are ahead for the President’s party assuming those views stay consistent or get worse as Election Day nears.
Of course, we’ve got a lot of time between now and next year’s midterms, and anything can happen. But unless we see some dramatic shift for the better on the economy and related kitchen table issues, which are at the heart of what most people think about come election time, there’s a strong likelihood that the slim majority Biden has enjoyed in the House and the razor-thin one he has in the Senate will be a thing of the past. As my colleague, Bonchie recently predicted, “A red wave was already probable, but it’s quickly reaching imminent territory.”
For those wanting to dig deeper into the YouGov/Economist poll numbers, the toplines are here, and the full poll is here.
Biden Lies His Ass off and Attacks Americans
Who Yelled at Him About Afghanistan
Joe Biden doesn’t like being challenged. His response when challenged is often to lash out or to lie to cover up an unpleasant truth.
During his visit to Manville, New Jersey to inspect flood damage, Biden was scolded Tuesday — called out by multiple people — for leaving Americans in Afghanistan and his horrible withdrawal that resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and the wounding of many others.
“You left Americans behind…we will leave you behind,” one man yelled. He then shouted out the name of a service member who died in Afghanistan, chastising Biden saying, “He lost his life for what!” because of Biden’s actions.
“My country is going to s— and you’re allowing it!” one woman yelled. “I’m an immigrant and I’m proud of this country! I’d give my life for this country. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves.”
“All this for a f— photo-op?” one man shouted. “You ain’t gonna do s—!”
According to the NY Post, another man shouted, “Resign, you tyrant!”
Multiple protesters were photographed giving the president a middle finger as he drove from Hillsborough Township to nearby Manville.
One person held a protest banner that said “F— Biden And F— You for Voting For Him.” Another sign said “Biden go back 2 the basement.”
What struck me was, even with what they just went through with horribly damaging flooding, these folks still wanted to let Biden know how seriously they took what he had done in Afghanistan. That shows just how much Biden isn’t going to be able to easily move on from this — people aren’t just going to let it go and turn the page as Biden is trying to do.
You know it couldn’t have made Biden happy because he definitely heard the shouts. So what was Joe Biden’s reaction to being challenged by these Americans?
When he later visited Queens with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Joe Biden claimed that everyone had been thanking him where he was touring there. “None of them were shouting or complaining,” Biden said. “Every one of them were thanking me as if it was something special….that I was here.”
Maybe not in NY, but certainly they were in New Jersey and you can’t try to paper it over, pretending it didn’t happen. And, no, Joe, this isn’t about you, this is about what happened to them in the hurricane.
But Biden later did try to completely dismiss the hecklers. Rather than assuaging at least some of their concerns and saying that he would do all he could to get Americans that he had left out of Afghanistan, he claimed that the people shouting “don’t live there.”
“The people who stand on the other side of the fences, who don’t live there, who are yelling that we’re interfering with free enterprise by doing something about climate change — they don’t live there,” Biden said. “They don’t understand.” He also lied and completely mischaracterized what they were yelling about which was not climate change but his horrible actions on Afghanistan and leaving Americans behind. That’s pretty despicable, not only to dismiss them but to lie about what they said as well. He’s basically saying “because I don’t like being challenged, I’m going to dismiss and lie about what you said.” And he wonders why Americans are yelling at him? This is the reason why — because he literally doesn’t care what people say.
Biden then went on to rant about climate change, “The nation and the world are in peril,” Biden said. “That’s not hyperbole. That is a fact.”
An odd and infuriating juxtaposition with the actual fact of Americans being in peril in Afghanistan, him being responsible for it and now not even addressing it.
As I reported yesterday, he made other weird and incoherent remarks during the day. But at the end of the speech in Queens, he told a little boy who looked like he was standing on top of a playground gym, “Don’t jump.” Biden then made a cringe-worthy pandering remark that it’s “diversity” that helps get us through problems. Yikes.