Biden’s Polling is Bad in 2023: Could it Get Worse in 2024?
Voters are taking out a myriad of frustrations, real and imagined, on President Joe Biden in the polls.
“Joe Biden Is in Trouble,” as John Della Volpe put it last month for the New York Times.
How much trouble is a matter of much debate in the press.
“How Much Is Biden’s Support of Israel Hurting Him With Young Voters?” wondered Nate Cohn for the New York Times on December 19. “Donald Trump leads him among those 18 to 29, a new poll shows.”
“For the first time, Mr. Trump leads President Biden among young voters in a Times/Siena national survey, 49 percent to 43 percent,” wrote Mr. Cohn, gravely. “It’s enough to give him a narrow 46–44 lead among registered voters overall.”
“Usually, it’s not worth dwelling too much on a subsample from a single poll, but this basic story about young voters is present in nearly every major survey at this point,” Cohn noted sadly.
Losing young Democratic Party voters over dissatisfaction with President Biden’s stance on Israel is only one of the many gauntlets the beleaguered incumbent President is facing.
Worse, perhaps, House Republicans are closing in on filing articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden.
“Biden impeachment inquiry end game comes into focus, but moderate Republicans still not sold,” noted Annie Grayer and Melanie Zanona for CNN on November 6, 2023.
“House Republicans are prepared to enter the last stage of their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, with committee chairmen focusing on a remaining list of high-profile interviews and starting to strategize over a final report that will likely include criminal referrals and serve as their bedrock for potential impeachment articles,” they wrote at the time.
Over a month later, the situation is looking even more dire.
“The grifter defense: The Bidens move to embrace influence peddling with a twist,” contributed Jonathan Turley for the Hill on December 21, 2023.
“As the House of Representatives goes into high gear in its impeachment proceedings (and possible contempt resolution against Hunter Biden), the Biden family legal problems continue to mount,” wrote Turley. “In one week, it was revealed that President Biden’s brother James was caught on an FBI audiotape in a corruption investigation, while Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter, is now also facing demands for unpaid taxes.”
“ALL the evidence Republicans are compiling as they get closer to formally impeaching Joe Biden in 2024: The White House changes story AGAIN as it scrambles to distance Joe from Hunter’s shady business dealings,” blared the UK’s Daily Mail this week.
“Since the start of 2023, Republicans have been investigating Joe Biden over his alleged connections to his son Hunter’s extremely lucrative multi-million dollar influence peddling scheme spanning decades,” began Kelly Laco for the outlet. “In December, Republicans voted to formalize their ongoing impeachment inquiry because they believe it will force the administration to turn over documents and provide witness testimony after months of stonewalling.”
“They are working toward building up enough evidence to show Joe was involved in Hunter’s dealings in order to hold a formal impeachment vote in the House in 2024,” concluded Laco.
A formal impeachment vote in the House may soon be inevitable. And that isn’t the end of Biden’s problems. While domestic challenges have been piling up, a myriad of foreign policy issues have also arisen to bedevil the Biden Administration.
“Biden’s Foreign Policy Had a Rough 2023, and 2024 Looks Rougher,” worried Bloomberg senior fellow Hal Brands on December 21, 2023.
“There hasn’t been much holiday cheer for Ukraine,” began Brands. “President Volodymyr Zelenskiy left Washington last week without any new US aid for his embattled state. That may be an omen of hard times ahead in 2024. The final year of President Joe Biden’s term will see the present world order facing trouble on every front — including the one on which it is most vulnerable, in the US itself.”
“Next year is shaping up to be ugly for Ukraine,” continued Brands grimly. “Its much-touted counteroffensive has ended in disappointment. Its forces are bloodied and exhausted. Recriminations about whether Ukrainian timidity or Western avarice are to blame for that failure are playing out, predictably, in the US press.”
Some journalists have been willing to look on the bright side.
What Biden’s rough 2023 in the polls means — and doesn’t mean — for 2024,” Mark Murray hoped for NBC on Saturday. “Biden’s numbers show he’s in trouble now. Democratic strategists see several ways out of that trouble in 2024 — but none of those routes is guaranteed.”
Not everyone is feeling optimistic.
“What the Polls Said This Year: Trump’s Up, Americans Are Down,” Ed Kilgore summarized for New York magazine this weekend. “It’s been a turbulent year in U.S. politics, leading to a 2024 election year that’s likely to be even more chaotic.”
(contributing writer, Brooke Bell)