With voters clearly concerned about President Joe Biden’s age and a majority of Democrats expressing a desire for someone else to secure the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, his campaign is struggling to communicate any compelling reason that he deserves another term in the White House.
Biden’s approval rating hits new low
Even members of the president’s own party have urged him not to run for reelection, as concerns about his age and the economy escalate
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For a while, the prevailing message hinged on “Bidenomics” in an effort to convince Americans that the current administration’s economic policies have actually been effective despite rising consumer costs and mounting debt.
That strategy was widely interpreted as tone-deaf as public opinion increasingly shifted against Biden’s economic policies in recent months. A new CNN poll found that more than two-thirds of voters disapprove of his handling of the economy.
His dismal 33% approval rating on the issue is the second lowest of his term thus far and three points lower than it was in October. Worse yet for the president’s re-election hopes, the economy ranked as the most important issue for voters, securing 42% of the responses. Immigration came in second place, albeit 30 points behind the economy.
That narrative has been unceremoniously de-emphasized, with Biden himself last using the term “Bidenomics” in a public speech more than a month ago. The term has not disappeared entirely, though, and CNN anchor Dana Bash offered some rare criticism of the Biden White House in light of the latest poll results.
“They’re trying so hard with Bidenomics,” she said, noting that it is clear that “voters aren’t buying it.”
The resources Biden’s team is using to convince Americans that the economy is improving appear to have been wasted, she suggested, adding: “It’s like … they’re trying to tell people how to feel and it doesn’t always work.”
Most Democrats do not want to see Biden’s name on the ballot again in 2024 — and that group might even include the president himself. During a recent fundraiser, he signaled that he likely would not be seeking another term if his 2020 rival former President Donald Trump were not running.
Trump subsequently weighed in on the matter during a town hall event with Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, expressing doubt about whether Biden “makes it” to Election Day.
“I think he’s in bad shape physically,” the former president said. “Do you remember when he said, ‘I’d like to take him behind the barn’? If he took me behind the barn and I went like this [blowing air from his lips] I believe he’d fall over. I believe he’d fall over, who knows?”
