President Joe Biden is not happy with his standing in the polls and wants his aides to do something about it, according to a new report.
A Monday article in The Washington Post reported that before heading off for his Thanksgiving vacation, Biden had what the Post called “stern words” for a group of aides, telling them his “poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it.”
“He complained that his economic message had done little to move the ball,” the Post reported, citing sources it did not name.
The report said that Biden is “frustrated” by his low approval ratings and “has recently grown “upset” that no turnaround has taken place.
A White House spokesman declined to comment on the report, according to the Post.
“We do not discuss the president’s private conversations one way or the other,” spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
The report cited what it said were private statements by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — who is running for Senate in the Wolverine State — in which she expressed concerns about winning if Biden is at the top of the Democratic ticket. Publicly, Slotkin has said she supports Biden.
An October report from The Wall Street Journal summed up what it said were conversations among Democrats as creating a “pervasive, but mostly private, sense of worry that hangs over the race. Some compare this moment to the 2016 cycle when many top Democrats brushed aside Hillary Clinton’s vulnerabilities only to watch her ultimately lose to Trump.”
“It is a little bit like your grandfather running the company and you know that he’s at a point now where the heirs could suffer value if we don’t change management at the top. And this is very difficult. How do we get grandpa to relinquish the CEO role?” said Philip Levine, a Democrat and former mayor of Miami Beach, Florida.
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The Journal quoted what it said was a member of the Democratic National Committee it did not name as saying, “It would be irresponsible for us to not be concerned at this point. People can be hopeful about what the result is going to be. But we don’t have any evidence as to why we should be hopeful. The polling is bad. The approval ratings are bad. We know about concerns about both the president’s age and about the vice president if she were to take over.”
“I want to see Bidenism continue but I think the best way to make sure that happens is to perhaps have a different candidate than Joe Biden,” the DNC member said.
In a Dec. 9 report, The Wall Street Journal sought to get behind the numbers after a poll that showed former President Donald Trump leading Biden 47 percent to 43 percent in a head-to-head race and 37 percent to 31 percent when five potential third-party candidates were factored in. The poll of 1,500 registered voters was conducted from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
“Unhappiness with Biden is pervasive in the new survey, though much of it appears among Democratic-leaning groups who might still back the president on Election Day,” the Journal reported.
“Only 23% of voters say Biden’s policies have helped them personally, while 53% say they have been hurt by the president’s agenda. By contrast, about half of voters say Trump’s policies when he was president helped them personally, more than the 37% who say they were hurt.”
In an article published Sunday, the Journal reported that inflation and high prices were often cited as concerns by voters, but also noted, “Many voters couldn’t cite specific Biden administration policies they disliked, but instead channeled a pervasive malaise in the country that they said was difficult to pin down.”
The article cited one voter, identified as Robert Gilbert, 65, of Fenton, Missouri, as being down on Biden after supporting him in 2020
“I don’t think he has really done much for us, nothing that benefits me really,” Gilbert said.
Democratic pollster Michael Bocian told the Journal that voters are “hearing a lot right now about how things are bad for them economically and they’re remembering that inflation was lower during the time that Trump was president.”
The Journal cited another poll respondent, identified as Stephanie Evans, 38, a business owner from southern Colorado, who said times have been hard.
“A lot of people are waking up to the economic injustices even more—sending money to Ukraine, sending money to Israel. And here we are kind of feeling like the forgotten stepchildren,” she said.
Evans, who voted for Biden in 2020, said she doesn’t plan on voting for either Biden or Trump next time around.
Christine Jung, 73, a Republican and retired FBI agent in Stuart, Florida, told the Journal she was a Trump voter in 2020 and planned to be one again.
“I can’t stand the fact that the border is open. Terrorists are everywhere,” she said, according to the Journal. “I fear for our country.”
The Journal quoted another woman, identified as Melissa Garcia Johnson, 33, of Anchorage, Alaska, who said she was a Biden voter in 2020 but now wasn’t so sure.
She’s particularly frustrated, according to the Journal, that Biden’s efforts to have taxpayers pick up the tab for student loans have been unsuccessful. She and her husband have also had trouble getting a home loan, the Journal reported.
“I’m really not a fan of him and his performance,” she told the Journal. “There’s a serious issue with interest rates on homes right now. I’m in my mid-30s and I’m still renting.”
