Most of Joe Biden’s polling has been fair to middling, with approval for his performance on COVID-19 hiding the unpopularity of his other policies. However, like the boyfriend who seems so great until you realize he never puts the toilet seat down and leaves his dirty socks on the floor, America appears to be waking up. Some recent Rasmussen polls drive the point home.
The trend among likely voters in the Daily Presidential Tracking Poll is clear. It appears the flip-flop on CDC mask guidance is rubbing Americans the wrong way. For the last three days, total disapproval has been over 50%, and the approval index between those who strongly approve and strongly disapprove has been -13, -16, and -15. These ratings accompanied announcements about requiring vaccines at the Veteran’s Administration and other federal agencies.
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This poll is a valuable tool to detect trends because it uses a consistent methodology to assess the feelings of likely voters. Rasmussen picked up the daily presidential poll when Gallup abandoned it during the Obama administration. The last time the Approval Index was not negative was February 15, 2021. However, at that time, Biden’s total approval rating was still at a majority of likely voters at 53%.
Perhaps the news on inflation and indications that it will be persistent are affecting the right track/wrong track numbers. After six months of Biden in office and slower economic and job growth than predicted, for the three weeks ending July 15, 39% of likely voters think the country is heading in the right direction, and 54% believe we are on the wrong track.
The latest poll rates voters’ approval on critical issues. Across all demographics, likely voters rate President Biden lower on his handling of violent crime than they do on the economy. To be clear, the economy is not a big win for him either. Remember, “somewhat concerned” is also an option:
In every racial category, voters express more concern about violent crime than inflation. Sixty percent (60%) of whites, 59% of Black voters and 58% of other minorities say they’re Very Concerned about the problem of violent crime in America. By comparison, 50% of whites, 46% of Blacks and 47% of other minorities are Very Concerned about inflation.
The Biden administration really should have taken Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to heart. Most people want their government to provide an environment where they can take care of their physiological needs and feel safe and secure. The left wing of the party went straight for self-actualization, making the entire party look insane.
Perhaps the loudest signal in the data is among independent voters. This was a critical demographic in Joe Biden’s 2020 win, and it appears a fair number of them might be willing to trade a mean tweet for cheap gas and economic growth at this point:
Seventy-one percent (71%) of Democrats, but only 15% of Republicans and 37% of unaffiliated voters, rate Biden good or excellent on his handling of the economy. On crime and law enforcement issues, 62% of Democrats, 12% of Republicans and 25% of unaffiliated voters rate Biden excellent or good.
There was a lull in coverage of the border crisis in the corporate media after a flurry of coverage earlier this year. But it seems news of COVID-19-positive migrants and the federal government shipping them to mid-sized cities all over the country is breaking through. Every question on the Immigration Index except support for DACA recipients is trending toward tighter immigration controls. The frustrating part of this index is the clarity about what Americans want to see in an immigration policy, which has been consistent since 2019. And it is not the open-borders policy the Biden administration is creating.
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Even the Democrats’ insistence that January 6 remain top-of-mind is not going to work. More Americans think Congress should investigate the destructive riots of last summer than the events at the Capitol:
Majorities of every racial group and political affiliation support a congressional investigation of last year’s violent protests. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of whites, 64% of black voters, 66% of Hispanics and 62% of other minorities think Congress should investigate the 2020 riots in U.S. cities. Seventy-five percent (75%) of Republicans, 60% of Democrats and 63% of voters not affiliated with either major party say Congress should investigate last year’s violent protests.
Other findings include noting that people are aware of the disparities in treatment between those arrested for January 6 and violent summer rioters. Respondents also see the trends in our major cities:
Belief that failure to prosecute “quality of life” crimes increases the level of crime shows strong majorities in all racial groups, including 59% of black voters and 70% of Hispanics, and across political categories, with 77% of Republicans, 60% of Democrats and 65% of unaffiliated voters agreeing.
None of this bodes well for Democrat candidates up and down the ticket in 2022, especially with Joe Biden as the party leader. Even deep-blue New York City will likely elect a former cop as their new mayor. While Eric Adams is a Democrat, he has vocally rejected the far-left progressive agenda by name. At a meeting with supporters, he said:
I’m no longer running against candidates. I’m running against a movement. All across the country, the DSA socialists are mobilizing to stop Eric Adams. They realize that if I’m successful, we’re going to start the process of regaining control of our cities.
Smart Democrats would take the lesson from the recent Democrat primary Adams won. Instead, they keep voting lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to stop a bill prohibiting programs that incorporate segregation in public schools and to advance a former eco-terrorist to run the Bureau of Land Management. Here’s hoping they keep ignoring the majority of Americans straight through Election Day 2022.
