2024 Rundown: Biden's Bounce Back
Rising polls and approval rating puts Biden on the right track for November
One thing you won’t see or hear on a lot of in the news is that Biden’s approval and poll numbers are on an upswing.
Approval Rating:
RMG Research - Mid-March - 42% 3-week average. The 3-week average of this poll has been slowly but continually increasing since November
Noble Predictive Insights - Mid-March - 44%
Florida Atlantic University PolCom Lab/Mainstreet Research - Mid-March - 46%
American Research Group - Late March - 46%
Harris Insights and Analytics - Late March - 45%
Election Polling:
In February, Bloomberg/Morning Consult polling showed Biden trailing Trump by an average of 5 points in every swing state (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin).
The same March survey shows Biden leading by 1 point in Wisconsin, tied in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and Trump’s lead falling from 6 to 2 points in Nevada, 6 to 5 in Arizona, and 9 to 6 in North Carolina.
Eight major national polls performed in March now show Biden leading Trump overall.
Why is America finally realizing that Biden is the right choice for 2024?
The first reason is time.
America and much of the world suffered through a form of trauma. The pandemic hit, and no one knew what it was. All we did know was that people were going to the hospital in increasing numbers. We were all isolated while we watched the news showing the death tolls rising and the hospitals struggling to keep up.
Then supply shortages hit, and many Americans weren’t sure when they’d be able to get basic items again, such as toilet paper. This, in turn, led to hoarding, which only served to increase supply shortages.
Following that was an attempted insurrection on our Capitol. We watched live on TV as an angry mob attacked police, broke windows, and defiled the halls of Congress, all in hopes of stealing an election to anoint Trump the Supreme Leader by force.
Before we could catch our breath, global inflation hit. It rose, and rose, and lasted for years. Americans were struggling to make ends meet, and they didn’t know when normalcy would return or if it ever would. Many economists talked about a looming recession and high unemployment as the only way to reset the economy.
That inflation recovered 10 months ago. But for many Americans, even that doesn’t seem like what happened. They still see higher prices in some key areas, such as groceries, and they still hear about high inflation from right-wing pundits who want to keep Americans in despair.
To top it all off, Russia invaded Ukraine, and Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel, both of which ignited wars that are still ongoing today. The world felt like it was unraveling, and people felt helpless to do anything other than watch it fall apart.
Most Americans simply haven’t recovered from the chain of events that put them on edge, kept them fearing what would come next, and made them wonder if they would be able to keep paying their bills.
But as the amazing economic recovery continues, as normalcy continues to seep back into American life, people are relaxing and seeing the current situation for the good that it is, albeit slowly.
As the months go on, more Americans will relax and credit Biden for navigating the difficult situation and giving the United States the best pandemic recovery on Earth.
Another factor was President Biden’s State of the Union address. It was fiery, energetic, and empowering. Biden showed his control of the situations facing our nation and touted the successes of his administration and the failings of the Republican party. It was a powerful speech that made many in the country ready to vote for him again. Fundraising was at record levels in the hours and days following that speech. And the news couldn’t help but admit that it was the opposite of how they had been describing Biden for the last couple of years.
The third factor is positive news. The Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll mentioned earlier contained key information. One-third of respondents said they had recently heard positive news about President Biden, the highest percentage since they began asking that question in their survey in October. 28% reported they had heard something positive about Trump.
Media plays a pivotal role in how Americans see the country, the government, and the President. And while it is great that more Americans are hearing positive things about Biden’s governing, 2/3rds still are not, and even worse, 50% report hearing only negative news, despite the fact that:
Unemployment has stayed under 4% for over 2 years straight
Inflation was brought down faster than the other G7 nations
We are the only nation to come through the pandemic recovery with meaningful real wage growth
Because America had the best economic recovery in the world
Which is why America's economy is outpacing China's for the first time in 50 years
The millions of jobs lost by Trump have been replaced, and millions more have been created
GDP growth is high, higher than under Trump
Stock markets are beating records over and over again
Crime has fallen nationwide over the last two years, and violent crime is now near a 50-year low.
Infrastructure projects are happening across the country.
Manufacturing is returning the the US, including high-tech manufacturing, which has created 800,000 jobs
US world standing has recovered from record lows under Trump
NATO is the strongest it has ever been
More Americans have healthcare than ever before, and healthcare costs have been reduced
America has become the dominant energy-producing and exporting nation. We lead the world in production and exports of Oil, Natural Gas, and Propane.
That happened while significantly increasing green energy, and 40% of US energy is now emissions-free. This number could be as high as 80% by 2030, which could also allow the US to become the dominant green energy exporter
US CO2 emissions are dropping, and thanks to the green energy investments, are expected to see a 50% drop from 2005 to 2030
The majority of Americans should hear positive news about Biden weekly, if not daily. They should be aware of everything he has done to keep America’s economy strong through the pandemic recovery. They should be aware that the US is doing better than every other nation.
Instead, the media spent years downplaying Biden’s accomplishments, opting to question his age instead. All the while, they minimized reporting on Trump’s failings and fascist rhetoric.
Here is how The Economist is describing each presidential candidate on their site right now:
Joe Biden, at 81, will be the oldest ever major-party presidential candidate, breaking his own record set in 2020. Mr Biden won a seat in the Senate at the age of 30 and held it for over three decades. He made failed bids for president in 1988 and 2008, and served as Barack Obama’s vice-president. Despite a reputation as a centrist Democrat, in office he has pushed to expand the state and lobbied for unions. He has also led an international coalition to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. Although he promises to “finish the job” if re-elected, many voters think the job may finish him.
Donald Trump’s extraordinary campaign follows his no less remarkable term as America’s 45th president, which concluded shortly after his supporters staged an armed attack on the Capitol. His alleged role in instigating the attack and a broader effort to overturn results of the 2020 election resulted in two criminal indictments, in federal court and Georgia state court. He faces two others, totalling 91 felony charges. The 77-year-old denies all wrongdoing. Mr Trump is a self-proclaimed billionaire, who made (and lost) much of his money in real estate, before he became a reality-TV star. This time his campaign pairs familiar culture-war issues (building a border wall, “left-wing gender insanity”) with fresh grievances (against the lawyers prosecuting his cases and the judges overseeing them).
Trump:
Increased the national debt by 40% in a single term, the majority of which happened before the pandemic and in large part due to his tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations
Lied about the pandemic, which led to 1 million Americans dying from Covid
Had the largest increase in homicides in US history
Decimated US standing on the world stage, hitting numerous record lows across many nations
Attempted to change vote totals in a presidential election, then tried a fake elector scheme, before finally telling an insurrectionist mob to go to the Capitol and fight like hell
Wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David before ending up giving them everything they wanted in negotiations, including forcing Afghanistan to release 5,000 terrorists from prison
Had three terrorist attacks in our country during his presidency
Said he wished our military generals were more like Nazi generals during WWII
Stole classified documents, lied about them, hid them, and considered attempting to sell them back to the government
And yet The Economist calls his Presidency “remarkable”. They call his campaign where he praises dictators, says he wants to be a dictator, says he could terminate the Constitution, says he wants to round up his enemies and put them in camps, and tells Russia to go ahead and attack our NATO allies because he wouldn’t step in to save them, “extraordinary.”
This is how the media distorts reality and, therefore, influences elections.
Fortunately, in the past month, more Americans have seen the truth about both candidates, which is swinging polls and approval ratings in Biden’s favor. But the media will clearly never do enough to show the true picture of what each candidate brings to the table and how each candidate led the country.
It is up to the rest of us.
