It’s too early to panic over prospects for a second Trump presidency. But it’s not too early to get real nervous.
The latest round of disheartening polling came out over the weekend, this one brought to us by ABC News and the Washington Post. Let’s run through the top lines.
Pres. Joe Biden’s approval numbers are not getting any better. Only 36% approve of his performance while 56% disapprove and 47% strongly disapprove. Since his numbers have been hovering around 40% since his withdrawal from Afghanistan (something that was supposed to be popular) they look to be stuck there. Nothing he’s done, from an historic infrastructure bill to a big investment to fight climate change to dolling out money for all kinds of things right and left, including direct cash payments to just about everybody, has moved his numbers.
In a head-to-head matchup he loses to Trump 44% – 38% and to Gov. Ron DeSantis by 42% to 37%. He loses by six points to Trump. Donald Trump. The guy who cozied up to Vladimir Putin who later went on to commit atrocities in Ukraine. The guy who denied he lost, tried to change the results after the fact, and incited a riot at the Capitol that killed five people. And the guy, who this very poll suggests, a majority of Americans think should be prosecuted in three pending investigations for inciting that riot, trying to overturn the election in Georgia and the mishandling of classified documents. And, as for DeSantis, he’s losing to a guy who hates Mickey Mouse.
More Americans think Donald Trump is more mentally sharp than Biden. Donald Trump, who the Washington Post claimed made over 30,000 false or misleading statements over his four years in office. Some were outright lies, but others were simply the result of an intellectually lazy man who doesn’t care about getting it right. If you’re interested you can read his top 20 hits here.
Barring his placement behind bars, it looks like Trump will get his party’s nomination again. He leads DeSantis by 20 points and the others are nowhere to be found. And remember that under Republican primary rules the winner of a plurality gets all of a state’s delegates. So, from Trump’s point of view, the more opponents the better.
About 58% of Democrats wish they had another choice. Can you blame us?
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
I do blame you. The Dems insisted on playing the race card for VP – it had to be a black woman. Suppose they had gone with a moderate like Amy Klobuchar. Biden could now step aside and we would have the first female president.
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There’s no reason to think that Biden’s polling will improve, so it’s becoming obvious that some brave Democrat (not RFK Jr.) has to step up and primary the incumbent president. Most Democrats seem to respect Biden and his general competence and decency, but we don’t really like him that much. Trotting him out there again seems like a terrible idea and the consequences – a return of Trump – are dire.
I could get behind J.B. Pritzker, who’s extremely rich and ambitious, or Gavin Newsom, or one of several other much younger candidates. I keep hoping that Joe will see this and bow out graciously but see no sign of that happening.
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Given issues in both CA and IL I don’t think either Newsom or Pritzger would be good candidates. If we’re looking at governors, I like Andy Beshar in KY or Gretchen Witmer in MI.
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You know what bothers me more than ageism? Relying on polls. Didn’t the polls have Hillary winning right up until she didn’t? Didn’t the polls have the GOP sweeping the November 22 elections, until they didn’t? I put zero stock in polls and I know many people who live into their 90s and are not only able bodied, but of sounder mind than the last president we had.
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Extremely briefly, Biden is a Globalist and Neocon sock puppet.
RFK Jr is not, nor is Trump.
Not to mention the lead balloon that is Harris.
I find it very sad that you, and at least one of your readers, won’t even look at RFK Jr.
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I admired his father.
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