Biden said to be increasingly frustrated by dismal poll numbers

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Mon Dec 18, 2023, 01:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Biden said to be increasingly frustrated by dismal poll numbers

In one recent meeting he said poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it

By Tyler Pager
December 18, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. EST

The night before President Biden departed Washington to celebrate Thanksgiving on Nantucket, Mass., he gathered his closest aides for a meeting in the White House residence. ... After pardoning a pair of turkeys, an annual White House tradition, Biden delivered some stern words for the small group assembled: His poll numbers were unacceptably low and he wanted to know what his team and his campaign were doing about it. He complained that his economic message had done little to move the ball, even as the economy was growing and unemployment was falling, according to people familiar with his comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

For months, the president and first lady Jill Biden have told aides and friends they are frustrated by the president’s low approval rating and the polls that show him trailing former president Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination — and in recent weeks, they have grown upset that they are not making more progress. ... “We do not discuss the President’s private conversations one way or the other,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said in a statement. “The President and first lady meet regularly with their senior team for updates and to review plans.”

Since that November meeting, which has not been previously reported, most polls continue to show Biden trailing Trump nationally and, more importantly, in key battleground states. The accumulation of troubling polls for Biden has made it harder for Democrats to dismiss them, leading to a fresh set of conversations among Biden officials and allies about whether the president and his team need a shift in strategy. And now Democrats in competitive races are growing increasingly worried about Biden damaging their own electoral prospects.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who is running for the state’s open Senate seat, has expressed concern to allies that she may not be able to win her race if Biden is at the top of the ticket, according to people familiar with the conversations. A spokesman for Slotkin’s campaign said she “looks forward to running with President Biden.”

{snip}

Emily Guskin and Scott Clement contributed to this report.

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By Tyler Pager
Tyler Pager is a White House reporter at The Washington Post. He joined the paper in 2021 after covering the White House at Politico and the 2020 presidential campaign at Bloomberg News. He won the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2022. Twitter https://twitter.com/tylerpager

[Lovie777]

1. Bullshit..............................

doom and gloom again, but alas all cheers for shithole.

[JohnSJ]

6. It may be "doom and gloom", but the fact is that all the current reputable polls are showing that trump is leading

President Biden by 4%, and that consistency is a warning.

Those polls also indicate that third party candidates are hurting President Biden worse than trump.

RFK jr is getting about 14% of the vote in those national polls.

I am not sure what third party voters are thinking, because they have to realize their third party candidate will not be elected, and the best a third party candidate would do is send the election to the House, where trump would end up being selected.

Another troubling issue with these polls is that they show a significant decreased support for President Biden among Democrats, where they show that about 25% of Democrats do not approve of the job President Biden is doing.

One thing I wish the polls would include is a question if they believe the accusations against trump are legitimate?

The reason that is such an important question is it would indicate the mindset of those polled, and also serve as a control.

It is a fair question, because these current polls are asking if they believe the Biden impeachment inquiry is legitimate, along with Hunter Biden?

Why not ask the same question about trump?

I think what all this is saying is Democrats need to come out more aggressively to make their case.

These polls also indicate that the top two issues concerning the American public are the economy and immigration.

That in itself demonstrates a major disconnect, especially in regard to the economy.

[Lovie777]

8. Like Biden, Obama had inside polling which proved to be accurate....................

to date polls are used for propaganda purposes and lately here in the USA they have been off the mark. I have very little respect for pollster and corporate media.

[TwilightZone]

11. If the president is frustrated about polling...

the internal polling is likely telling a similar story.

"they have been off the mark"

Everyone says that. No one can explain why or how. They just are, I guess, because hunches are better than data.

[Lovie777]

15. Just recent inside information posted here.........................

they are tied which counters.

[TwilightZone]

18. Margin of error

This alleged "inside information" doesn't counter anything. The polls are almost all within the margin of error of each other.

Poll numbers aren't static, fixed numbers. They represent a range. I'm not sure why that's such a difficult concept for some people to grasp.

[lees1975]

25. You need to get past 538 and RCP, and use your browser to check a wider variety of polling data.

I got to 19 different polling websites with data from the last 2 weeks, and 10 of them have Biden with anywhere from a 2% to 5% lead. It's only the ones that the composites are using, multiple times, that have Trump leading, and it is not consistently 4%. It's more like 1 to 2%.

Fox News and Rasmussen, both known for leaning far to the right, both have recent polls showing Biden up by 5%. Now their motive might be to motivate their Trumpie audience with phony information. But I have a hard time believing that a sudden shift in the polls in mid-October was the result of a change in public opinion. It was the result of copycatting a New York Times-Siena poll that had the effect of increasing ratings and causing a stir.

I volunteer with a group of Democrats in my precinct to make calls and get out the vote. I have seen nothing of the panic, distraught faces and hand wringing over polls. I have not heard a single comment about Biden's age, capability or stamina, and no one has changed their mind. If anything, the results we are getting from our canvassing is really encouraging, just like almost every election result has been since 2020.

Don't fall for phony baloney. Polls and pollsters can, and are, being bought by corporate money and by Russian interests.

[Polybius]

26. Fox doesn't skew polls though

They are actually quite good when it comes to polling for some reason. Rasmussen is right-wing, but the past two years have had Biden's approval and poll numbers higher than almost anyone else. I have zero trust in them. The worst, true right-wing poll is Trafalgar Group. They heavily favor Republicans.

[JohnSJ]

28. Many may not believe this because of their right wing news propaganda,

however their polling division has been one of the most accurate

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Biden places great faith in doing the right thing and human nature

Those things are not operating the way they once did, being distorted by Fox News, MAGA cult, and noise from DJT.

"He's done a good job" and "He's for democracy" are not exciting themes. Biden is more overseer of normalcy than exciting, IMHO. He will have difficulty at his age in generating excitement. Recall he ran much of 2020 without public campaign rallies due to the pandemic.

Cabinet surrogates are not exciting, though Mayor Pete makes headlines.

Maybe we need a full court press by Democratic Senators and Governors.

How can the public not understand the consequences of electing Trump again? Any other Democrats polling better? VP Harris?

[doc03]

3. The first thing I hear this Morning from someone on Morning Joe,

focusing on Bidenomics went down like a lead balloon. Number one the media didn't cover it and they try
something for a week or two than decide it doesn't work. What makes the headlines for Biden. Yesterday one of Trump's
cult heard Biden is going to shut down every coal mine and coal fired power plant. I read Democrats are abandoning him
because of his support for Israel. I hear Democrats aren't going to support him if he does anything about the border. I hear Democrats think he is too old. Meanwhile the media can't wait to cover the latest Trump hate fest.

[Walleye]

4. A vote from an excited voter doesn't count anymore than a vote from an indifferent voter.

I’ve never understood this whole excitement thing. Why do we have to beg people to vote?

[MichMan]

13. Excited voters are much more likely to cast a vote than indifferent ones

Given that less than 70% of eligible voters cast votes in 2020.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. The most popular choice in 2016 was "did not vote," with 471 electoral college votes.

Thu Nov 16, 2023: The most popular choice in 2016 was "did not vote," with 471 electoral college votes.

Clinton would have come in a distant second, with 51 electoral college votes, and Trump an even more distant third, with 16 electoral college votes, carrying only Iowa and Wisconsin.



Source: https://brilliantmaps.com/did-not-vote/

[Walleye]

20. Well, civics courses in schools were discontinued a generation ago

[Basic LA]

5. We can say it's all baloney, don't believe it.

Or we can admit that at this moment in time, we're in a statistical pickle. Being a hand wringer by nature, I'm worried. What to do?

[JohnSJ]

7. We should be, because all the legitimate polls are pretty consistent on these results. A big problem is that

third party candidates are hurting President Biden more than trump, at least according to these polls.

Anyone who would vote third party, if the presidential race is between Biden and trump, who doesn't realize that the best a third party vote would accomplish is sending an election to the House, which would be a trump victory.

Democrats need to come out significantly more aggressive.

[Lovie777]

9. The laat I read, 3rd party hurts shithole...................................

especially RFK, jr. People seem to forget that some RWer faction are true believers that JFK will be resurrected and side with them.

[JohnSJ]

14. All the analysis I have seen is that RFK jr equally takes away from both candidates

One thing pretty clear though, Cornell West will hurt President Biden in a way that Jill Stein did in 2016.

In 2016 in every critical swing state Hillary lost by less than 1%, while in those critical swing states Jill Stein received 1% of the vote.

It doesn't take much.

[lees1975]

24. West is done.

He has little money, very little support, not even showing up in many polls surveying Democrats, much less on the national scene. The New York Times seems to love him, he didn't even scratch the surface in an NBC poll. And that was the only source I've seen which is working on determining where RFK Jr will get his support. Other than Fox News, which speculates that he will take support from Biden because he is a Kennedy, NBC news says 70% of his support is now coming from Republicans disaffected by the orange headed buffoon.

Stein, who is actually running as the nominee of the Green Party, may be a problem again, though right now, she's also not cleared 1% yet. Apparently Biden's campaign realizes what it will take to neutralize the bitch. Her friendship with Vlad isn't popular on the left, and they're doing a great job of co-opting their platform. She'll fizzle this time.

But I have little confidence in the accuracy of an article from the Washington Post using "sources who spoke under condition of anonymity" which is very old press trick to control the narrative. The source is usually the reporter sitting at the next desk, rumor-mongering. And why, in the clip, someone sensed the need to puff the reporter.

[Chainfire]

10. Why wouldn't he be distressed over the numbers. He has worked as hard as he can to improve the lives of Americans,

He has acted, on the world stage, in a manner that sheds a good light on the country. He is decent, kind and honest, and has been productive, and yet he can not poll higher. It has to be depressing. I know that personally, I am very distressed over the polling numbers and the knowledge that they could be the harbinger of the end of Democracy as we know it.

[BeyondGeography]

12. Someone leaked this to WaPo

Which should tell us something about the state of things on Team Biden.

[Lonestarblue]

17. And WaPo has done its best to damage Biden at every turn.

They beat the Afghanistan withdrawal to death, never mentioning that Trump was the one who had all the Taliban fighters released so they could take over Afghanistan.

They have harped on his age for more than a year and never miss the chance to publicize a stutter, an instance where he misspoke, the fact that he sometimes uses the shorter AF1 steps, or his tripping over a sandbag. The NYT has an opinion piece today about how Trump is a moderate and that’s why his supporters flock to him. The writer dismisses Trump’s appeal for them as an authoritarian and gives numerous examples of Trump’s so-called moderation, which in reality only occurred because career government officials, the military, and the courts prevented his worst instincts, like wanting to order the US military to the southern border to shoot migrants before they could enter the country.

When all you report is negativity about someone for months, how could polls be positive? The business reporters are the only ones reporting positive news.

[BeyondGeography]

19. "What are you going to do about it?"

To quote the staffer who fed this story to mean ole WaPo.

I assume this person is as familiar as you with the paper. And yet they got the story with that quote anyway.

[Walleye]

21. I am sorry I'm too old to be worried all the time about the election, my worrying doesn't help anything anyway

It’s a long time before the election, what are we gonna do if we are at our maximum distress level at this point

[DURHAM D]

22. Drivel

[lees1975]

23. Any time a news outlet quotes a source who "speaks on condition of anonymity" you can ignore it.

It didn't happen.

I am increasingly becoming convinced that there is a concerted effort in the media to force the Democrats to choose someone other than Biden. Whether that's to boost Trump's chances, or just because they don't like Biden, I can't really tell, though I think, with the corporate money in the media, it's an attempt to clear out obstacles to Trump.

Spreading rumors under the guise of "sources who speak under condition of anonymity" is an old, old, OLD press tactic to control the narrative. It goes way back to the days when newspapers were the primary source of news.

[SalamanderSleeps]

27. This was posted yesterday. It's a hit job.

This is pot stirring by the "paper that Jeff bought."

"He complained that his economic message had done little to move the ball, even as the economy was growing and unemployment was falling, according to people familiar with his comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation."

Who is this fly on the wall?

Is it someone trying to manufacture low hanging fruit?

Or, are they someone who just can't keep their goddamned mouth shut.

It's my experience that people that gossip use gossip to communicate things they wish they heard.

Regardless, they have proven themselves to be untrustworthy.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

29. The NYT poll shows Biden leading with likely voters

Link to tweet

[LymphocyteLover]

30. most people aren't paying attention to what he's done and are still stung by inflation

gas prices plunging lately should help him