Martin Gillen: Now President Biden is almost as unpopular as Trump

White House spokesman Jen Psaki said Monday that Joe Biden plans to run again in the 2024 presidential election. That doesn’t mean he’s officially launching a campaign and the promise can’t be rescinded, yet we should treat that message with a pinch of salt.

An experienced political strategist for Democrats, The Washington Post, said he had not heard anyone in the party say, behind the scenes, that Biden would run again.

Biden will turn 81 when the next presidential election is held, and his waning popularity during the year has fueled speculation that Democrats need to find another candidate.

President’s trust characters It’s down from 53 percent when he took office in January, to 43 percent today, according to the median analysis site Five Thirty Eight.

The only president in the modern era who has been worse off at the same time is Donald Trump, who in November 2017 had the support of only 37% of Americans.

One reason the White House has announced its plans to run Biden again may be to tame speculation about other candidates, not least Vice President Kamala Harris. Her confidence numbers are even lower, and she now only has the support of 36 percent of Americans, according to the average Five Thirty Eights.

That Biden and Harris lose so much support is of course worrying for Democrats.

Biden was right The Democratic nominee during the politically turbulent year 2020. After four years of chaos with Donald Trump, many Americans have seen Biden as a safe alternative. He launched himself as a familiar face, “Uncle Joe,” who attracted not only traditional Democrats but also center-right voters and former Republicans who wanted a return to a political normal.

As president, he faced intense criticism from both the party’s left wing, Republicans, and center-left voters, while successfully implementing a series of sweeping domestic policy reforms.

A massive support package at the start of the year was followed by a $1,200 billion infrastructure package in the fall and a series of grant programs targeting the middle class, parents and low-income earners. The social safety net has been greatly strengthened: Poverty among black Americans, for example, has been reduced by 57 percent. Wages have gone up, unemployment has gone down, growth has gone up, and consumption has gone up.

But at the same time, discontent with the economy is very widespread and pessimism about the future of the United States is as strong as the Trump era.

There has been a major race of opinion in Biden’s favor on economic issues.

I am the Washington Post According to opinion polls, support for Biden’s management of the economy has fallen from 52 to 39 percent during the year. Despite Biden’s two major economic reform packages, 71 percent of independent voters said Biden “hasn’t achieved much” on the economy. 70% of Americans think the economy is going.

An important explanation is the rising inflation, especially gasoline prices.

At the same time, a lot of misinformation was spread here. In a speech last week, Donald Trump said gasoline prices are more than $7 — in most states about half their high.

In any case, the majority of independent voters say inflation is Biden’s fault.

messy exit From Afghanistan and the ongoing pandemic has also lowered Biden’s confidence. Sixty-nine percent said they were happy with his handling of the epidemic in April, but now only 53 percent say the same.

Biden also suffers from conflicts within his own party. Partly a stinging criticism from the left wing unhappy with the fact that reform packages are being cut. On the other hand, two center-right Democrats in the Senate, Joe Manchin and Kirsten Senema, are precisely the reasons why the reform packages have been significantly scaled back. The two senators are also said to be causing problems for Biden’s attempt to bypass the massive welfare package, which in its current form is worth more than $1,700 billion.

With these opinion trends, everything points to a real rise for the Democrats in the 2022 congressional elections.

But when it comes to the 2024 presidential election, in fact, no one knows for sure, not even Jen Psaki, who will run.