Following several poor polls and concerns over his approach to hot-button issues like inflation and abortion, some Democratic strategists have suggested that President Joe Biden’s leadership on these topics is lacking.
“There’s the administrative aspect of the job, as well as the political side, and it appears that the president is leaning more towards the administrative side at a time when his coalition is looking for political clarity and leadership,” Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist, said during an interview with The Hill. “Joe Biden and his team must be careful to give that balance while also keeping up with both requirements.”
A second Democratic strategist, who declined to be named, harshly criticized Biden and White House officials for not doing enough to address a number of issues besetting the country.
The most prominent strategist reportedly complained, “It’s infuriating. Our house is on fire, and it appears like they’re doing nothing to put it out. They’re just watching with the rest of us as it burns down.”
Biden’s performance from within the Beltway has coincided with polling showing that President Biden is losing support throughout the country.
According to the most recent CIVIQS rolling job-approval average on July 3, Joe Biden is underwater in 48 states — including the traditionally dark blue California and his home state of Delaware — while his approval rating is at its lowest in office, with just 30% approval and 58% disapproval.
Biden’s approval rating is well underwater in 48 states, with 12% of respondents neither approving nor disapproving. Hawaii (45 percent to 42 percent) and Vermont (44 percent to 38 percent) are the only two exceptions. The president’s net approval rating is -28.
Meanwhile, Biden supporters like former White House adviser Cedric Richmond are scrambling to defend the president’s actions (or lack thereof).
“The country didn’t pick Joe Biden because they wanted to see a Democratic Donald Trump go out there every day and exacerbate the divisions in the country,” Richmond explained. “Democrats are scapegoating the President or being distracted and not concentrating on what they should be focusing on. He once rescued democracy by defeating a tyrant; he is doing it again, but he isn’t doing it by pounding his chest.”
