NEWS AND OPINION:
Politicians on both sides of the aisle must never forget the importance of “kitchen table” items — those issues which are of intense interest among voters, such as wages, jobs and health care costs. President Biden earned only tepid reviews in this department, according to a CNBC/Change Research survey which gauged voter sentiment.
The poll revealed that Mr. Biden earned a “D” grade when it came to the economy, jobs, health care costs, helping the middle class, raising wages, bolstering the “wallet” of a typical citizen and helping working parents afford child care.
“This should be a wake-up call for Biden and Democrats: There is overwhelming frustration with the direction of the economy and Biden earns C’s or D’s on every measure in this poll, from the macro-level to kitchen-table issues,” the poll analysis reported.
“Trump voters express strong disapproval of Biden and rate the economy negatively, as they have since the day Biden took office. But Biden earns such remarkably low marks because his own voters are unsatisfied. They see and feel the rising cost of everything despite record corporate profits, not the impact of the American Rescue Plan or the bipartisan infrastructure investment package, and they are frustrated with the lack of progress on a Democratic policy agenda,” the analysis said.
Mr. Biden’s report card did not display any “A” or “B” grades whatsoever: The president earned a “C” for his coronavirus policies, for the state of the stock market, job creation, infrastructure investment and helping the middle class.
The CNBC/Change Research poll of 1,895 registered U.S. voters was conducted Dec. 17-20 and released Sunday.
DON’T FORGET ‘VOTER’S REMORSE’
President Biden would lose an election rematch to former President Donald Trump, according to a Heartland Institute/Rasmussen Reports national survey. If the presidential election were held today, a mere 40% of likely U.S. voters would vote to reelect Mr. Biden, while 46% would pick Mr. Trump. Another 10% would choose some other candidate in a Biden-Trump rematch.
There’s some fierce favoritism, as 81% of Republican voters supported Mr. Trump and 75% of Democrats would vote for Mr. Biden. The pivotal role of the independent voter also came into play, however.
“Among voters not affiliated with either major party, however, Trump would win by a 16-percentage point margin, with 45% to Biden’s 29% of the vote,” the poll analysis said.
There’s another factor involved, however.
“Less than one year into his presidency, 52% of likely voters have an unfavorable impression of President Biden. This is astounding, given the fact that the mainstream has given Biden the benefit of the doubt so often and glossed over his administration’s utter failures concerning the pandemic, inflation, foreign policy, et cetera,” said Chris Talgo, senior editor and research fellow at the Heartland Institute.
“On the other hand, 51% of likely voters now have a favorable opinion of former President Trump. In fact, more likely voters would vote for Trump over Biden if the next presidential election were held today. It seems like American voters are experiencing a classic case of voter’s remorse, “ Mr. Talgo said.
The survey of 1,016 U.S. likely voters was conducted Jan. 5.
THE TRUMP-LESS NEWS
The public appears to be losing its taste for nonstop news.
A significant Axios comparison of audience engagement throughout 2020 and 2021 finds that social media interactions with news stories fell by 65%, one year to the next. The number of primetime cable news viewers dropped by 36%, downloads of popular news apps has dropped by a third, and “unique” visits to popular news sites were down by 8%.
“Engagement with news content plummeted in 2021 compared to 2020, and given the ongoing decline in interest in news about COVID-19 and politics, it doesn’t look like 2022 will be much better. Why it matters: The Trump era and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic created a one-of-a-kind media moment that will be hard for news companies to replicate,” noted Axios analysts Sara Fischer and Neal Rothschild.
The analysis used data from NewsWhip, Apptopia, SimilarWeb and Nielsen Media Research to compare the years; the analysis was released Jan. 4.
HILLARY’S PERFECT STORM
It only took one op-ed in the Wall Street Journal suggesting Hillary Clinton was fit to run for president in 2024 to prompt a media frenzy over the idea.
“Hillary Clinton’s 2024 election comeback: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have become unpopular. It may be time for a change,” noted the op-ed penned by Douglas E. Schoen and Andrew Stein, who also said a “perfect storm” is brewing in the Democratic Party.
“Schoen and Stein conclude their piece by arguing that ‘if Democrats want a fighting chance at winning the presidency in 2024, Mrs. Clinton is likely their best option.’ If that is true, the Democratic Party is in more trouble than we thought,” wrote National Review senior writer Charles C.W. Cooke.
CNN columnist Chris Cillizza, though, wrote that “it’s worth noting that neither Schoen nor Stein have sterling credentials as Democrats. Schoen worked for former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg while Stein endorsed none other than Donald Trump in the 2016 election against, wait for it, Hillary Clinton.”
“Their backgrounds should give you pause about their intentions and their analysis of the state of the Democratic Party and the 2024 field,” he advised.
It is of note that former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly predicted in late 2021 that Mrs. Clinton “wants the presidential nomination.”
It is also of note that her official website — HillaryClinton.com — still prominently displays a section called “Hillary’s Vision for America.” It includes 41 sections outlining her progressive-friendly policy on everything from climate change and criminal justice reform to voting rights and “Wall Street reform.”
POLL DU JOUR
• 34% of U.S. voters say they “almost never” think about stock market indexes like Dow Jones or the S&P 500.
• 18% say they think about the indexes a couple of times a week.
• 12% say once a month, 11% once a day, 10% say once a week.
• 8% think about the indexes a couple of times a year
• 6% think of the indexes multiple times a day, 1% think of them once a year.
SOURCE: A CNBC/Change Research poll of 1,895 registered U.S. voters conducted Dec. 17-20 and released Sunday.
• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com
