I don’t post incessantly on Joe Biden’s declining approval ratings. I don’t even post on the subject as much as some strong supporters of him do. I do think it’s worth pointing out that the RealClearPolitics index of polls has actually declined after including polls taken after the hard “infrastructure bill” was passed and sent for the president’s signature. He’s now ten points underwater. That’s not in the danger zone yet but it’s not good sign, either.
But is it really true, as Frida Ghitis suggests at CNN, that the remedy for President Biden’s declining popularity is better communications?
Biden needs to become a better salesman. As CNN’s Jim Acosta noted, “If Trump had gotten an infrastructure bill after all those Infrastructure Weeks, he’d have been flying stealth bombers over the Lincoln Memorial and unveiling the Trump bridge in every swing district in America…”
Trump, of course, is the consummate marketing man. Biden needs to up his game in that department.
And it is nowhere more evident than in impressions about the economy.
The CNN poll found 38% of Americans say the economy is the most pressing problem facing the country. It’s the number one concern of Republicans and the second highest among Democrats, who worry more about the pandemic.
I think that when people go to the market and find the cost of groceries is sharply higher than it was a year they notice. Apparently, Ms. Ghitis think they’re merely misinformed. Whose priorities are out of whack?
I would also add that if Ms. Ghitis thinks that President Biden will rise to the occasion and suddenly become a moving orator she hasn’t been paying attention. Joe Biden has been in the public eye for most of the past 50 years. He has never been a great communicator and his skills have diminished over time if anything. There’s an old saying about teaching an old dog new tricks. They weren’t talking about dogs this old. I wonder whether you can teach a really old dog anything. Particularly when he perceives that what he has been doing is working.
$10 per lb for Oscar Mayer regular bacon at Kroger this morning. $9 per lb for 80/20 hamburger.
I do so miss the 21% apr variable rate mortgages of the early 80’s. I miss the gas lines, too.
I do think the messaging has been bad. But that’s not the only factor – there are a lot of factors that are driving his numbers down.
He is certainly correct that Trump was better at messaging. His supporters believed everything he said and thought he passed every bill he promised. Anyway, if Biden were better at messaging it would help. As Sumner pointed out the group that theoretically gets hit hardest by inflation is the group that has seen the best income changes so in terms of real money they arent being affected.
Steve
I’m not really sure what she wants him to message better. How do you better message:
“No Americans will be left behind in Afghanistan.” The reality is that this was patently absurd.
“Inflation is transitory.” All people have to do is go to the store. Huge amounts of fiscal stimulus on top of covid recovery can’t be messaged away.
Shutting down pipelines, impotent pleading with OPEC re: gas prices, and soon high heating bills to arrive with a reminder every 2 weeks or month. You can’t message that away.
Pictures of armies of immigrants on the march to the border…….and paying people who came here illegally. Exactly what message?
Joe Biden has benefitted from something that is priceless: a fawning press who toss softballs or just refuse to cover bad news. They effectively do the messaging for him. Especially CNN.
I think this is the most interesting sentence:
“Particularly when he perceives that what he has been doing is working.”
Do you suppose he really does? That would put him in the village idiot category, or more senile than he really is. I think an alternative to be considered is that he knows he has a limited time to implement things that will be very sticky – difficult to dismantle. He knows he has enough press cover to avoid an approval rating in the 20’s. Its just damn the torpedoes and force someone down the road to rectify it all. Nancy is going away. 2022 election congresspeople are going to be sacrificed. Joes not running again. He doesn’t care.
I watched the evening news and the headlines for Washington Post, New York Times yesterday — it was the 1st or 2nd story (compared to 5th or 6th in the summer); also the administration is switching from “its transitory” to “its an issue” in its messaging.
So the inflation story is now past the denial stage into the “bargaining” stage. Note the administration hasn’t done anything yet that they didn’t want to do — its “pass BBB because it will reduce inflation”, “use less fossil fuel to cut gasoline prices”.
I like to add a joke that inflation isn’t “transitory” anymore to Democrat office holders up for reelection in 2022; and that has caused all the difference.
I was referring to the style, content, and quantity of his communications. He undoubtedly thinks what he is doing in that regard is working—after all he was elected senator for deacdes and he was elected president.
With a long enough time horizon everything is transitory.
The question is will inflation transit quickly enough that it isn’t an issue in the 2022 election? That’s a year away. Something depends on whether the supply chain issues can be resolved or demand will decline. I’m guessing neither but who knows? It’s a “damned if you do” situation. A decline in aggregate demand would be a sign of recession.
He’s over the hill and coasting eyes closed towards Arlington.
There are things his handlers could do to help him appear more vigorous but that’s beside the point.
As you have said before, these are aged people. They’ve done nothing to groom replacements in their party.
I would expect Obama sees himself as senior statesman for the next 30-35 years. Whom will he groom?
Or does he really have the energy to elbow out AOC.
IMO we’re still waiting for the next generation of leadership to emerge.
“I was referring to the style, content, and quantity of his communications.”
I see. Well, he’s certainly entitled to his opinions. I would find those notions um, er,…………….oh, you know the thing….delusional.
“will inflation transit quickly enough that it isn’t an issue in the 2022 election”
It really depends on the electorates definition of inflation.
If it is about the price level reverting back to 2020 or 2019 prices. The answer is no.
If it is CPI yoy reaching 2% by Sept 2022; that’s unlikely. Forward looking measures of rent suggest a 3% CPI increase by Oct 2022 just from rent.
If it is CPI yoy is below its current 6.2%; that’s more likely then not. Starting from Feb 2022, the base effects from this year will tend to lower CPI yoy (i.e. unless Feb 2022 monthly CPI is higher then Feb 2021 monthly CPI of 0.4%; CPI yoy will go down).
Predict which definition the electorate will choose, which one Republicans will campaign on, and which one Democrats will campaign on.
I will say I think much of the inflation cake is baked for 22 at this point, barring something dramatic like a stock market crash, Fed raising interest rates to 3-4%, or emergency imposition of price controls.
@Drew
I think this is the most interesting sentence:
“Particularly when he perceives that what he has been doing is working.â€
Do you suppose he really does? That would put him in the village idiot category, or more senile than he really is.
Yep. President Biden is a documented senile, racist pedophile, and in my opinion, he has always been an idiot. In a village of idiots, he may not be the dumbest, but he is one of the top ten.
… delusional.
He believes that he is a civil rights champion, and I have no doubt that he thinks his creepiness is sexually attractive, to 10 year old girls.
“documented senile, racist pedophile”
You keep forgetting that he also eats the children. If you are going to do this at least do it right.
Steve
Clever repartee, Steve. Keep your day job.
IMO Biden’s dementia is greatly exaggerated. I think he stutters, has suffered a small bit of brain damage in his surgery, has lost a step or two, and spent years in the Senate. Combine those and it sounds like dementia.
It’s hard to say what medical impairment Joe Biden suffers from, as he won’t submit to a health exam that would prove or disprove all the rumors. In the meantime, how much he is coddled, given notes by staff as to what and what not to say or call on is not necessarily a sign of being all there. Stuttering is a completely different verbal problem than having a vacant look in the face as Biden so often has.
Furthermore, the travails of his presidency and ever-lowering of approval numbers are due to his lousy leadership, policies, and selection of weak people to be in his cabinet and administration at large. They are a pathetic if not dangerous group of partisans, making vital and long lasting decisions that will negatively effect this country for years to come. Many will rue the day they ever voted for Biden in 2020!
I think that reflects his mechanism for coping with his stuttering.
However, I will agree to this extent. I thought that he was too old to be president. I thought that Trump was too old to be president.
Trump also had signs of early dementia. The emotional lability, the confabulation, rambling word salad. But he was the elected president so not much you could do about it. Not much sense on obsessing over it.
Steve
Steve, your comments get more and more desperate as time goes on, to cover for Biden’s mental frailty. Now you’re pulling out Trump, accusing him of early onset dementia! The absurdity of that comment is mind boggling, in how you will go to any lengths to discredit someone you dislike, even if it means giving conjectures based on superfluous, facetious observations you’ve ponied up.
In contrast, Trump took and passed mental acuity tests. His schedule, unlike Biden was around the clock, engaging with media everyday, without prompting or notes. His energy was enormous. His mind quick. His word salads indicated a fast moving mind, full of things he wanted to say. Considering how often he was attacked and belittled, I think he did a much better job of keeping his emotions in check than Biden, especially as Biden erupts at the hint of anyone contradicting his words or foreign/domestic policy disasters.