Joe Biden had a huge smile on his face yesterday when pictured checking out the new electric vehicles coming off the line. Biden always smiles when the subject is American cars but he should also be smiling because things are looking up, including his approval ratings.
It was awfully bleak this summer when, fair or not, Americans couldn’t drive three blocks without a constant reminder that life was grossly more expensive and thus difficult. It was July, Biden had yet to sign the reconciliation bill containing a massive block of the Build Back Better plan. His approval rate was 36% with the midterms just four months away.
Now, the price of gas has fallen every single day since mid-summer. Biden did get his once in a generation-legislation win on Build Back Better, he’s taken the gloves off in fighting for Democracy, stolen “Brandon” from the Republicans in going “Dark Brandon,” he’s fighting for women and LGBTQ groups that are threatened, Trump is on the run, all of it contributing to a Biden approval rating that shot up nine points at 45% approval.
The mid-terms are two months away. Anything can happen, but if the trend is your friend, it would be fantastic to go into election day with 50% approval or above.
From the AP:
President Joe Biden’s popularity improved substantially from his lowest point this summer, but concerns about his handling of the economy persist, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Support for Biden recovered from a low of 36% in July to 45%, driven in large part by a rebound in support from Democrats just two months before the November midterm elections.
Without a doubt, the economy and inflation is a big issue going into the fall but it’s not as dominating an issue as the Republicans would like, not when women’s rights and LGBTQ rights are on the line. And, in a sign that bodes well for democracy, the Democrats, and Joe Biden, a recent poll in late August showed that the threat to democracy was the biggest issue going into the midterms.
This is all good news for Democrats. Republicans continue to nominate increasingly extreme election deniers and Republican extremism has come home to roost in the form of the Dobbs decision, demonstrating just how insane some of the laws in red-states can be when unleashed. In such an environment, there will be anywhere from 60-66% of Americans generally who prefer adults in government and thus, by necessity, must vote Democratic.
Last, the worse that Trump looks, the more that “crazed Trump” is making news, the more likely that Biden’s poll numbers go up. We saw the same phenomena with President Obama, whose approval ratings shot up as the Republican primaries focused on Trump and Ted Cruz, and Obama left office with a 59% approval rating as Trump entered office with only 45%. Trump so dominates the political discourse as the head of all things “Republican” that the same pattern should hold true for Biden. If Trump is found to have more records or more damning evidence emerges, we will likely see Biden and the Democrats’ approval drift up.
And that’s exactly how one wants to trend if one wants to keep control of the Senate (increasingly likely) and have a shot at saving the House (now possible).
@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.