Peter Baker, White House correspondent for the New York Times, appears genuinely puzzled that President Biden’s approval ratings are not higher.
He writes recently that many things are heading in the right direction: “Inflation at long last is down. So are gas prices and Covid deaths and violent crime and illegal immigration. Unemployment remains near record lows. The economy, meanwhile, is growing, wages are climbing, consumer confidence is rising and the stock market is surging.”
One negative trend, Baker notes, is Biden’s approval ratings which, in the latest New York Times/Siena poll, are at 39 percent, the lowest of any president at this point in his term but Jimmy Carter.
In all of Baker’s lengthy exploration of the president’s prospects and standing, he mentions not one word about ongoing investigations into likely Biden corruption. No hint of the fastidious hearings being held by the House Oversight Committee under Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). No reference to Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s past business partner, who blew up any remaining pretense that Joe Biden was not engaged in his son’s nefarious business activities in China, Ukraine and other countries.
Does Baker think that the Democratic Party’s “hear no evil” stonewalling on credible accusations that Joe Biden took a bribe from Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky will erase that charge from the nation’s consciousness? Do supporters of the president think it’s perfectly normal that Hunter Biden used dozens of shell companies to funnel money to family members, and also employed 14 encrypted apps and burner phones? That’s not normal.
The New York Times and Washington Post may not be reporting on these activities, but Democrats must know that the truth is seeping out. Thanks to the openness of Twitter, courtesy of Elon Musk, and to pervasive commentary elsewhere, Americans now know that Joe Biden is not the honest, moderate and likable person he pretended to be while running for president.
We now know that Biden lies regularly, that he is surly and profane and that he is not a political moderate. From day one he bought into the extreme left’s playbook, complete with the Green New Deal and Big Government ambitions.
Baker is right that inflation has headed down. But millions of Americans understand that it should never have climbed to 9 percent in the first place. Voters blame Biden for that spike in price inflation; they connect the dots between Biden pushing to spend trillions of dollars after the COVID-19 emergency had passed with soaring prices and the recent move by Fitch Ratings to downgrade U.S. debt.
In its analysis, Fitch cites “expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, [and] a high and growing general government debt burden…” Biden’s Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, and others tried to pin the blame for the downgrade on former President Trump, but that’s absurd, and most people know it.
They know that Biden has blown up the federal budget with trillions in unnecessary spending, much of which – like student loan forgiveness – is targeted at voting blocs critical to Biden’s reelection hopes.
As to gas prices, they are heading back up again, courtesy of Saudi Arabia and, secondarily, Russia. That the United States has again let Saudi Arabia become the world arbiter of oil prices is entirely on Biden’s plate. His non-stop war against our oil and gas industry has hurt our country – and indeed the world – badly. Oil production in the U.S. is 2-3 million barrels per day lower than it should be. Drilling is down, thanks to higher costs imposed on the industry even in recent weeks and less acreage being available for exploration.
COVID deaths are down, thanks to a vaccine created at the urging of President Trump and the natural course of the virus. Americans might reward Joe Biden for the decline in the disease but not for the president’s lies about the efficacy of the vaccines and his White House censoring non-official information about the pandemic. That suppression of debate about alternative therapies such as ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, the usefulness of both has been borne out by studies, undoubtedly cost lives.
As to violent crime, Democrats have sanctioned absurd no bail policies and other laws that have allowed criminals to go free and put victims last. They have cast law enforcement as racist and in need of supervision, while blue cities allow gangs to rob stores at will and pass “raise the age” laws, effectively allowing teen offenders to walk free. Current data is hard to come by, but residents of New York and Chicago are pretty sure their streets are becoming less safe by the day.
Baker also celebrates a decline in illegal immigration, but that is not true. In each of the first eight months of the current fiscal year, Customs and Border Protection reported more “encounters” at the border; only June saw a slight drop, but even that month was higher than in 2021. As a growing number of cities struggle with a rising number of migrants living on their streets, voters are not likely to give Biden a pass for supposedly fixing our dangerous open border.
Finally – yes – the job market has held up well, but now shows signs of cracking. Many economists continue to expect a downturn in the next several months; that would not help Biden’s standing.
Biden supporters can rewrite this history all they want, but voters are not buying it. And that, Mr. Baker, is why Biden’s approval ratings remain in the gutter.
Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.