In the past few weeks, much airtime has been spent and ink spilled on President Joe Biden’s debate debacle. Rightfully so, since Biden currently occupies the Oval Office and is asking voters for another four years. It also makes complete sense that the political chattering class, of which I am a card-carrying member, discuss the impact of the debate on the 2024 election.
However, it oversimplifies it to suggest that Biden is losing the election simply because of his dismal debate performance.
President Biden was losing the election prior to the debate on June 27. According to the RealClearPolitics Average, Biden was trailing former President Donald Trump by 1.5 percentage points nationally the day before the debate. Biden also trailed Trump in every single battleground state. It was for these reasons the Biden campaign desperately agreed to the debate in the first place. They needed to change the trajectory of the campaign. They failed.
The key is not just that they were losing prior to the debate but why they were losing. It wasn’t just about questions regarding Biden’s mental acuity, though valid; it was about his presidency and lack of results.
Roughly two-thirds of the American people, according to the RealClearPolitics Average, believe our country is headed on the wrong track, a number that has remained very consistent for the last two years. Approval of Biden’s presidency at the same time has roughly remained stuck around 40% also for the past two years.
The reason is not about the debate. It’s about his failed policies. Period.
The American people disapprove of Biden’s handling of just about every issue of importance. Anywhere from 60%-65% disapprove of his work on the economy and inflation, energy prices, the southern border crisis and immigration, foreign policy, and crime.
These are the reasons Biden was losing the race and continues to be losing. People remember that life was more affordable under the America First policies of Donald Trump. They remember gas and groceries being cheaper, and rent, mortgages, and utility bills that cost less. Americans also know their paychecks went further. Our country wasn’t facing an invasion of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Europe and the Middle East weren’t dealing with the horrors of war. On nearly every issue Americans regularly list as their top concern, life was better under President Trump.
Which brings us to an even bigger problem for Democrats. They fail to recognize why Biden was losing in the first place and don’t realize that changing names at the top of the Democratic ticket won’t change the underlying facts.
It simply does not matter which Democratic candidate is at the top of the ticket. Regardless of whether it’s Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, or any other Democrat, none of those candidates or potential candidates would change the unpopular policies that Americans mostly reject.
Do you see a Democratic candidate for president saying we need to secure the border and deport illegal immigrants who entered our country under Biden? No!
Democrats will not suddenly say that America needs to pump more oil, refine more gas, lower prices at the pump, and ditch their Green New Deal EV mandates.
Big government Democrats are not suddenly going to stop inflation-causing government spending and extend the Trump Tax Cuts, which doubled the Child Tax Credit, saved average Americans thousands of dollars, and caused the total percent of taxes paid by the top 1% to increase, not decrease as the left incorrectly suggests.
The party that supported the deadly and destructive BLM riots is not suddenly going to turn its back on the “Defund the Police” radicals in their midst. Remember, VP Harris and others helped raise money to bail out the rioters, arsonists, and looters. They also support the anti-Israel/pro-Hamas terrorist activists who took over college campuses and burned American flags. No Democrat is suddenly pro-police.
Democrats are stuck with policies the American people don’t like.
So, as we discuss the president’s mental acuity, speculate on possible replacements, or watch as they press ahead with Biden, do not forget it’s not just about his debate or his mumbles, stumbles, and brain freezes. Biden and the Democrats were and are losing because of bad policies. That’s not going to change, no matter what they do in the coming weeks.
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