The Polls: His re-election campaign in its infancy, there is no positive spin for a new poll for President Joe Biden, who almost two-thirds of Americans view as mentally and physically unfit to lead the country.
Not only that, but he’s losing to Donald Trump, who a majority in the same Washington Post/ABC News poll say should be criminally charged. This wipes away the sole rationale for his second term.
Biden’s approval rating is at 36%, which is the lowest rating of any first term president since Harry Truman, but Americans didn’t think Truman was out of it. His disapproval is 56%, which includes 47% that strongly disapprove.
Having already defeated Trump in 2020, Biden has been seen as the most surefire way to keep Trump from winning another term. Democrats are particularly petrified at the thought of Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket.
But I’m guessing more surveys will prove the Post/ABC poll isn’t an outlier but a pivot point. Now Democrats could be forced to push a viable alternative for Biden–possibly California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, or Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
It’s still very difficult to beat an incumbent president. Though, considering coo-coo candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson are polling almost one third of Democratic voters in primary polls, a serious challenger might have an easier time than normal.
What’s almost worse than the approval numbers alone are Biden’s standing among key Democratic constituencies, according to the poll, 26% approval among Americans under age 30, just 42% among non-white adults, 41% among urban residents and 46 percent of those with no religious affiliation. That’s certainly an opportunity for a viable primary challenger.
As for make-or-break in a general election, independents are backing Trump over Biden, 42-34%. These voters backed Trump in 2016 and flipped to Biden in 2020. Still, there are plenty of undecided voters.
There could be an out for Biden. It won’t be easy after he already announced his re-election campaign. But Biden could always cite his health–stressing his physical health if he’s too proud to admit cognitive issues.
The poll found 63% of respondents say he doesn’t have the mental sharpness to serve effectively as president. The number was only 43% when Biden ran for president in 2020. But another 62% said Biden isn’t in good enough physical health to be an effective president.
Also, the House Oversight Committee is investigating the financial deals of the Biden family. The president could assert “I could take the political barbs, but I won’t let those MAGA extremists torment my innocent family members through the awful Republican politics of personal destruction.” Most of the media would back him up.
There might be other clever outs. It would throw the Democrats into a temporary chaos. But big Democrat donors would make their choices in time for the primaries.
Democratic operative-turned ABC News talking head George Stephanopoulos even said, “This poll is just brutal for President Biden.”
Both Trump (44-38%) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (42-37%) beat Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup. This makes DeSantis a loser in the poll as well, since so much of his argument was going to be electability.
The poll says 56% believe Trump ought to be criminally charged for trying to reverse the 2020 presidential election and 54% want him charged in relation to a mob of his supporters rioting in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But that bodes even worse for Biden. You can’t even beat a guy that a majority wants to see under federal indictment? Well, as it turns out 26% of those who think Trump should be criminally charged would still vote for him over Biden.
That comes down to a bottom line, which is that 54% believe Trump did a better job with the economy than Biden. Duh.
The best pro-Biden spin could be to quibble about the sampling size, or margin of error. But – as the president would say – come on, man.
There just aren’t many places to go from here. Are you going to argue he really has 39% approval instead of 36%? Does Biden really just lose to Trump by 4% instead of 6%? Is it really less than 60% that thinks he’s senile? Did he only lose a few elements of his base? You get the point. The typical polling arguments don’t apply when the numbers are this awful.
Biden’s disastrous polling has finally caught up with his disastrous presidency.
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Barbara Joanna Lucas is a writer and researcher in Northern Virginia. She has been a healthcare professional, political blogger, is a proud dog mom, and news junkie. Follow her on Twitter @BasiaJL.
