Research: Americans Frustrated By Covid & Inflation, But Few Want a Return to Trumpism

Former President Donald Trump and his allies have been buoyed by recent polls showing President Joe Biden's approval rating with voters sinking into the low 40s. However, they shouldn't get too excited just yet. The majority of voters are even more adamant that they don't want Trump or a Trump-lite candidate.

In a survey, conducted by Marquette Law School, researchers found that 43% of adults nationwide would support Biden in a 2024 rematch with Trump, while 33% would support the former President. And, in a hypothetical race against Florida's Trump-lite Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, Biden was favored by 41% with just 33% supporting DeSantis.

So, what's behind Biden's current approval rating slump, hovering in the low 40s? What are Americans saying to pollsters? First, the 45% who voted for Trump. the anti-vaxers, the "stolen election" mob, and the anti-CRTers were never gonna "go ridin with Biden." So, the ceiling for Biden's approval rating was probably always around 55%. And, that's about where he started last January. He's about 12 points below that now and there are 3 reasons for the fall.

1. More than anything else, Americans are just frustrated by the pandemic. The vast majority of Americans are vaccinated and until the Covid variants started showing up, they believed that would be enough to end the masking and other restrictions. Some blame Biden, for reasons that escape logic, but most just want pollsters to know that they are fed up. These folks clearly don't want a return to Trump and realize that if anyone is to blame, it's the anti-vaxers.

2. Watching the sausage-making in Congress can make you crazy. The nation's founders created a system that makes swift, bold change difficult, and the Senate's filibuster rule just makes it harder. Despite Republican intransigence, President Biden has had a remarkably strong first year with the passage of his infrastructure and America Rescue Plan, court appointments, and progressive regulatory enactments. However, the President's voting rights and Build Back Better initiatives are stalled in Congress and, for the moment, appear unlikely to pass before the mid-term elections in November. Many voters believed that if anyone could break the logjam in Congress, it was Biden, so there is quite a bit of disappointment, especially among progressives.

3. The economy is growing at a record pace, there are more jobs than workers, wages are rising quickly, but how about the price of chicken. I don't mean to be flippant, but it's really difficult to argue that the economy is performing poorly. Yes, the supply chain is still recovering and demand is outstripping supply so inflation has increased, but the reason for that is that Americans have a lot of money to spend on goods and services. That's a good thing and Biden's America Rescue bill was largely responsible.

The Bottom Line: Presidential approval ratings can move up and down quickly and it's often a reflection of how voters "feel," rather than any specific policy proposal. And, here's the thing; as the Omicron variant fades over the next 30 days, the supply chain catches up, and inflation subsides, it's quite possible that Americans are going to feel quite a bit more positive by Summer. And, a brand new liberal justice on the Supreme Court might just remind progressives why they rode with Biden in the first place.

#politics

By: Don Lam & Curated Content