Former Clinton pollster: The polls are a ‘dire situation' calling for Biden to do a pivot
Former Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and former Clinton pollster Mark Penn on inflation concerns.
Even as President Joe Biden is facing off against an evil tyrant in Russia—an event that usually benefits presidential ratings—he is facing dropping approval numbers.
President Biden has failed to rally the country, and has only added to his woes and the difficulties of Democrats by failing to pivot away from left-leaning policies in the face of higher inflation, increased urban crime, and record numbers of new undocumented migrants at the southern border.
BIDEN APPROVAL RATINGS PLUMMET AMID WAR AND INFLATION FEARS
President Biden speaks about status of the country's fight against COVID-19 in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, March 30, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
First on the list for change is energy policy. When Biden entered office, gasoline prices were low. But now they are at a national average of more than four dollars per gallon, and far higher in some states and locales. Inflation is the number one issue driving the president’s numbers lower, yet the administration’s response has been to blame big business, accuse oil companies of profiteering, and to propose taxing the rich. Meanwhile, the president canceled the Keystone Pipeline, stopped issuing new federal oil and gas licenses, and made personnel appointments who are hostile to the energy industry. The president needs to re-balance his administration’s policy to broaden the horizon for new energy sources while fostering American energy independence.
Next on the list for a pivot is immigration. This portfolio was supposed to be handled by Vice President Kamala Harris, who promised to get to the root causes of immigration. She has neither gotten to those root causes nor reduced the size of the problem. In the latest Harris poll, the administration has 34 percent approval on the immigration issue—down from 56 percent approval early on. What was supposed to be a more humane policy has instead become an open border. The number of migrants pouring through the southern border now nears two million by the midterms. Voters in southern Texas have turned against Democrats. The broader public has always been consistent in support of increased legal immigration and to give DACA recipients and possibly others a path to citizenship, but they also want tough border enforcement.
U.S. President Joe Biden takes questions as he announces his budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, during remarks in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 28, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
Crime is also surging in major cities as progressive district attorneys and loosened bail laws are blamed for putting criminals back on the street. Not since the 1990s has crime been a national issue—and Democrats offering more gun laws won’t be enough to win over voters on this issue. The "defund the police" movement has cratered as crime in big cities has surged. The public wants judges to have clear authority to put violent offenders behind bars, and wants expanded police funding. Senator Biden was all in on stopping surging crime rates in the 90s as he worked with President Bill Clinton to pass the crime bill, put 100,000 new cops on the beat, and banned cop-killer bullets. Today, he could craft a bi-partisan anti-crime bill that would also require tough police standards.
On top of these kitchen-table issues is education. Parents in the suburbs are demanding more control over the education of their children who largely got little to no education at home during the pandemic. Glenn Younkin’s win in Virginia was largely an indication of this parental revolt in the suburbs. If the Biden administration sides exclusively with teachers’ unions over parents, it will lose the single most important swing group it won over during the Trump administration.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event at the Royal Castle, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Warsaw, Poland March 26, 2022. Slawomir Kaminski /Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. POLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN POLAND. (Reuters)
Finally, on foreign policy, Biden is struggling with the war on Ukraine in the wake of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden had good ratings at first, but as the crisis worsened, his approval ratings declined to 35 percent in foreign policy. His Putin regime-change gaffe only reinforced concern most voters have about whether Biden is capable of governing. Biden should send the requested jet planes and advanced weaponry to Ukraine without delay—a loss in Ukraine would be a big loss for Biden.
U.S. President Joe Biden boards Air Force One to fly to Warsaw, at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport, in Jasionka, near Rzeszow, Poland, March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Now, Biden has presented a new budget with $5.8 trillion in spending and $2.5 trillion in tax increases—proposing the largest tax increase in history. Remember when Walter Mondale went down that route?
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On issue after issue, Biden has had and still has the opportunity to move to the center and bring back enough suburban and independent voters to the party. So far, he has doubled down on many of his left-leaning policies. As a result, a tornado is heading towards the Democrat party. Six months after the dramatic decline in Biden approval ratings began, things have only gotten worse on almost every count.
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It’s a fact that either is going to be reckoned with now or, as happened in 1994 and 2010, reckoned with at the ballot box. Moderate Democrats have floated their own agenda to try to separate themselves from the administration. But, so far, Biden is staying the course rather than pivoting to the center.
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