President Joe Biden’s New Year’s resolution to focus on the 2022 midterm elections will not be universally welcomed by Democratic candidates as the party tries to buck history and hold on to congressional power.
Biden, who prides himself on being a skilled, empathetic campaigner, will be “a liability” for Democrats this midterm cycle, according to political commentator Darrell West.
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“His poll numbers have dropped, and his base is dispirited because of his inability to pass Build Back Better and voting reforms,” West told the Washington Examiner of Biden. “Republicans are virtually united against him.”
Republican strategist Alex Conant agreed Biden was poised to hamper Democrats contesting competitive districts, particularly among independents, who seem to be tiring of the president.
“The last president to actually help his party’s candidates in the midterms was George W. Bush in 2002,” he said. “Presidents have difficultly translating their political capital to midterm candidates, but the candidates can nevertheless be weighed down by unpopular national policies.”
On average, 40% of the public approves of the job Biden is doing as president, while 55% disapproves, according to RealClearPolitics.
A recent Gallup poll reflects roughly the same approval and disapproval ratings, yet only one-third of independents back Biden compared to the first six months of his administration when a majority endorsed him. Gallup researchers cited the pandemic and the deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan as possible catalysts for the opposition.
Biden also lost 10 percentage points among Democrats in the Gallup poll, plummeting from 90% in December to 80% in January. Researchers referenced inaction regarding social welfare, climate, and voting reforms as potential explanations for the shift.
For West, a Brookings Institution governance studies scholar, Biden’s top priority over the next 10 months should be addressing the public health and economic problems created or exacerbated by the pandemic.
“Biden needs to get COVID and inflation under control for Democrats to have any shot in November,” he said.
Biden has already clashed with nervous and annoyed Democratic candidates in a nationalized political environment.
Former Virginia gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe acknowledged Biden’s spiraling popularity during what he thought was a private phone call last year. Biden won Virginia by 10 percentage points in 2020.
After repeated questions about whether Biden would appear again with McAuliffe, the pair stumped together one more time before the president departed for Europe, where he remained until after the race was over. McAuliffe had earlier criticized Democrats for the $2 trillion price tag on Biden’s social welfare and climate bill, in addition to their protracted negotiations.
Then, this month, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who has made a name for herself advocating for more open elections, blamed a scheduling mix-up when asked why she did not attend Biden’s highly anticipated voting reforms speech in her state. Other activists boycotted the event after the White House conceded it did not have a filibuster-proof legislative strategy to clear the proposed bills.
Biden’s 2022 promise coincides with complaints from Democratic Party campaign arms that the White House has been an unreliable partner before the midterm elections, the president only personally broaching the subject briefly with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“It’s hard for me to believe that the president knows how little his political shop is doing to support Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House,” an elected Democratic official told CNN this week. “All of us believe that the president would be shocked to learn how little the White House political team is doing.”
Biden’s pledge represents a pivot from last year when he and his aides downplayed politics. Instead, the White House emphasized policy, adamant they had time to enact changes and counter the pandemic.
But after Biden marked the new year with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona tanking his social welfare and climate measure and voting reforms push, respectively, he and his staff have switched tacks.
For instance, Biden convened a two-hour news conference this week, his second stand-alone media availability at the White House since his inauguration. The more assertive posture has been underscored by a flurry of senior staffer interviews, including press secretary Jen Psaki with Fox News.
During the news conference, Biden bemoaned his limited travel around the country to engage directly with voters.
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“We’re going to be out there making sure that we’re helping all of those candidates,” he said. “Scores of them have already asked me to come in and campaign with them, to go out and make the case in plain, simple language as to what it is we’ve done, what we want to do, and why we think it’s important.”
