Poll News: It’s All Good

CNBC released poll results today that reinforce what we are seeing everywhere: the Democrats are in trouble.

Start with Joe Biden. CNBC says that Biden’s “overall approval rating stabilized at a low level of 41%.” We see the same thing in the Rasmussen Survey, where Biden’s approval rating sank to 42% some time ago and sits there now like a dead cat. But I think those numbers are misleadingly high. There is no way that 40+ percent of voters look back at the last year and say, “Good job, Joe!” I think many of these are loyal Democrats who tell pollsters, in effect, That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

This can be seen when looking at Biden’s approval on individual issues and in voters’ views of the Congressional elections. On the economy, Biden’s numbers are grim:

His economic approval sank more deeply underwater, with 37% approving compared to 56% who disapprove, down from 40% approval to 54% in the second quarter survey.

That is a terrible number, given that the economy is now the number one issue:

Inflation has now firmly eclipsed the coronavirus as the No. 1 concern for the country, with those two issues followed by immigration, crime and climate change.

The vastly over-hyped coronavirus opened the door for the Democrats to oust President Trump, as Biden vowed to “shut down” the virus. Sadly, there is nothing a government can do that will stop a virus. Accordingly, Biden has lost ground on that issue as well:

At 46% approval to 48% disapproval, Biden’s approval rating on the coronavirus is now underwater for the first time.

It is hard to see the cost of living declining over the next ten months, especially if the Democrats succeed in printing more money via the Build Back Broke bill. And the coronavirus will continue to spread, precluding any recovery in the public’s evaluation of the Biden administration on that issue.

The CNBC poll joins at least two others in finding unprecedented support for GOP candidates in the upcoming midterm elections:

Republicans now sport a historic 10-point advantage when Americans are asked which party they prefer to control Congress, holding a 44%-34% margin over Democrats. That’s up from a 2-point Republican advantage in the October survey.

In the past 20 years, CNBC and NBC surveys have never registered a double-digit Republican advantage on congressional preference, with the largest lead ever being 4 pints for the GOP.

Is there anything the press can manufacture over the next ten months to make the Biden administration look competent? I doubt it.

I would add one more local note. In most states, current polling shows that the economy is the voters’ number one concern. But in extensive polling completed just last week on behalf of my organization, we found that crime is number one in Minnesota.

Our pollster asked Minnesotans what should be Governor Tim Walz’s top priority over the coming year. A plurality of 28% said “Responding to the surge in violent crime.” In second place was “Creating jobs and helping the economy,” at 20%. “Improving schools and education” came third with 15%. Many of those respondents want to do away with Critical Race Theory. “Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic” trailed in fourth place with 14%.

This is a striking result in a state where hysteria over covid, cynically stoked by our state government, has dominated political life for going on two years. People have had it with the virus. It isn’t going away, and government shutdowns, mask mandates and the like have done little or nothing. Ten months from now, it will only be more obvious that government’s “response” to covid has been mostly pointless and is not a substantial basis for choosing a candidate to serve in the future. And Minnesota is not the only state that has seen shocking levels of crime over the last year.

Which again is good news for the GOP, as no one–especially, no Democrat!–imagines that the Democrats are interested in fighting crime. So the picture looks bright for Republicans.