Skip to main content
Opinion

Biden is having a terrific summer while Trump looks terrible

Aug 29, 2022

Share

President Joe Biden’s approval ratings shot up to 44%, an increase from 38% in July. Though still below the 50% rating an incumbent president typically requires for a positive midterm election outcome, the upward trend could present a challenge for Republicans. Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman argues the recent Biden momentum could impact the midterms, and if it continues, the 2024 presidential election:

The fact that Joe Biden is getting so many things done — some of them while he was in COVID quarantine — while Donald Trump is posting to Truth Social, attacking people, telling lies, and complaining, and having his home have searched by the FBI — it just looks terrible for Trump and it looks very good for Joe Biden.

Now there’s a long time before the 2024 election. We don’t know if Trump is running. We don’t know if Biden is running for reelection. We don’t know what the outcome of the midterms is going to be. Right now, based on all of the polling and based on everything that I can see, the most likely outcome is Democrats lose the House, but not by much. Democrats keep the Senate, probably expanding control of the Senate, and nothing gets done for the next two years because you will have a split Congress and complete partisan gridlock.

This will lead us to a 2024 where whoever the candidates are, whether it’s Biden or a different Democrat, whether it’s Trump or a different Democrat, you will have both sides saying if you elect me, I will break the partisan gridlock that we have seen for the last two years.

And of course, the truth is, no individual president can really break it. It’s a matter of who controls the House and who controls the Senate and all of this is going to be bound up in what happens in the next couple of months leading up to the midterm. So a very good month to two months for Joe Biden. The question is will it persist and what will it do for Democrats in November.

We have an extraordinary situation happening in American politics. We had months during which not much was happening within the Biden administration, and during which it was sort of a stalemate in terms of any progress towards Donald Trump announcing that he will or will not be running for president in 2024. And suddenly over the last few weeks simultaneously, the Biden administration has gotten an incredible boost of action and accomplishments, which to some degree have been pushed to the side by the incredible news of this search warrant served at Donald Trump’s home and Mar a Lago. So let’s break it down piece by piece. First of all, Joe Biden’s approval has been climbing and it has been climbing, notably dating all the way back to around July 20. The reasons are numerous and they include the following number one extraordinary jobs report in July, more than half a million jobs created compared to the expected quarter million wages up half of 1%. In July, inflation down in July, more than 60 consecutive days of gas price decreases a great welcome relief for the American people, even if it will delay the transition off of gas powered vehicles. That’s a story for a different day. Qualitatively, the successful strike which killed al Qaeda terrorist, Iman al Zawahiri, even if many progressives like myself question, the logistics of that no due process, many concerns, it is an accomplishment for the Biden administration, the signing of the pact Act, as well as the inflation Reduction Act. This is a one month period that for any administration would be a huge series of accomplishments. And it’s happening at a time that Joe Biden really needed it. And also happening at a time the Democrats needed it, as we are now closer and closer to the November midterms, which in a sense, are a referendum on the President of the United States, that’s all fantastic. And yet, it has not gotten the attention it might have gotten. If it were not for being pushed to the side by the search warrant executed at Donald Trump’s home in Florida, Mar a Lago by the FBI. And part of this has been it’s a major story objectively, you know, the right is saying this has never been done to any president before. It’s not really a good argument one way or the other. I mean, you know, everything that has happened at some point happened for the first time. So it’s not really a major thing, that it’s the first time. But Donald Trump did things as president that no other president before did. And so it’s logical that you would see new outcomes. The search warrant was completely on the up and up and legal, all of the claims that Donald Trump and his acolytes have been making, there was no probable cause. They didn’t have the right authorization. It’s a witch hunt. It’s a fishing expedition. None of that is true. This was carefully considered for weeks by the Attorney General Merrick Garland before he agreed to sign off on the search warrant, Trump’s own FBI director Christopher Rea, remember, the current FBI director was selected by Donald Trump signed off on a search on executing a search warrant, and a judge signed off on executing the search warrant. It was all as Sean Hannity said, eyes crossed and T’s dotted I know, make heads or tails out of that. So the reality here is that both of these things help Democrats. There’s a big either or conversation happening, where people are saying, is it good for Biden or bad for Biden, that his accomplishments are being pushed aside by the search warrant? It’s all good. The fact that Joe Biden is getting so many things done, some of them while he was in COVID. Quarantine, while Donald Trump is posting to truth, social, attacking people, telling lies, and complaining and having his home have searched by the FBI. It just looks terrible for Trump. And it looks very good for Joe Biden. Now there’s a long time before the 2024 election. We don’t know if Trump is running. We don’t know if Biden is running for reelection. We don’t know what the outcome of the midterms is going to be. Right now, based on all of the polling. And based on everything that I can see. The most likely outcome is Democrats lose the house, but not by much. Democrats keep the Senate probably expanding control of the Senate. And nothing gets done for the next two years, because you will have a split Congress and complete partisan gridlock. This will lead us to a 2024 where whoever the candidates are, whether it’s Biden or a different Democrat, whether it’s Trump or a different Democrat, you will have both sides saying if you elect me, I will break the partisan gridlock that we have seen for the last two years. And of course, the truth is, no individual president can really break it. It’s a matter of who controls the House. And who controls the Senate and all of this is going to be bound up in what happens in the next couple of months leading up to the midterm so a very good month to two months for Joe Biden The question is will it persist and what will it do for Democrats in November

Video Library