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Grim prospects for Biden as ratings take a dip

Thursday, February 16th, 2023 00:30 | By
US President Joe Biden. Photo/Courtesy

If the United States presidential polls were to be held today, incumbent Joe Biden would not sleep in the White House any more. Well, this seems to be the verdict of a Washington Post-ABC News poll released last month. The poll is an indictment of Biden’s half-term in office, with little hope that things will get any better going forward.

According to the poll, 62 per cent of US citizens think Biden has accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing” during his presidency. Conversely, 36 per cent say he has accomplished “a great deal” or “a good amount.”

The poll rated Biden’s performance in his flagship campaign promises including revamping the country’s infrastructure, increasing employment and enhancing production of electric vehicles as under par. Going by the precedence set by the approval ratings of former President Donald Trump, which led to his eventual lose to Biden, things are ominous both for the latter and his Democratic Party. Experts wonder whether the President can do anything now to halt and turn back the current trend amid a worsening domestic and global situation.

Americans have issues with the way Biden has been running the country’s affairs both at home and abroad since he took office in January, 2021. From the burgeoning debt and spiraling inflation to the mishandling of the Russia-Ukraine war, majority of US citizens have had enough. Other flashpoints include his failure to positively manage US-China relations, and his dishonesty about the classified documents found in his residence.

Either through omission or commission, Biden has been unable to tackle escalating gun crime in America, with the country registering its worst monthly death toll in January. During the month, statistics released by the Gun Violence Archive show that there were 52 mass shootings – that injured or killed at least four people – leading to the death of 3,600 people and 2,700 injured.

A poll released on February 6 by The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research collaborates the above findings. Accordingly, just 37 per cent of Democrats say they would like Biden to seek re-election for a second term, down from 52 per cent in the period prior to the November, 2022 midterm elections. It seems Biden’s advanced age has become a liability as Americans focus on his frailty and attendant health challenges. “Biden 2024? Most Democrats say no thank you: AP-NORC poll”, so says an article published on AP News by Josh Boak and Hannah Fingerhut on the same day.

The article and poll focuses on the fact that Biden is now old – “his coughing, his gait, his gaffes and the possibility that the world’s most stressful job would be better suited for someone younger”. This is simply a polite way of saying that Biden is incompetent and he needs to take a rest.

For US allies, they have no choice but to work with any incumbent since it is about the country’s foreign policy. But then the US President has the ability to ensure that the policy is not unnecessarily antagonistic, which has been the case in the last several months. The dye seems cast. Americans are actively contemplating a post-Biden era. Their major predicament is who will be on the presidential ballot in next year’s polls. It is becoming increasingly evident that barring any fundamental legal action against Trump that will make him ineligible, Trump will be the candidate to beat at the polls - for lack of a better option.  Democrats must start building a strong candidate in the likely event that Biden is stood down to avoid an electoral carnage by the Republicans. The work is cut out for the party since there is no one who immediately comes to mind as a powerful contender against a bulldozer like Trump.

— The writer is a PhD student in International Relations

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