Democrats feel midterm momentum following Biden’s surprising winning streak

President Biden has been a remarkable commander-in chief with low approval ratings. He scored a series of legislative wins and foreign policy victories that give Democrats renewed hope for winning the November midterm elections.

Mr. Biden was able to get a number of important bills passed through an evenly divided Senate. This bill had overwhelmingly bipartisan support. It was also a relief to have the support of Sen. Joe Manchin III (West Virginia Democrat), who has been a long-standing holdout, in order to pass his spending and climate bill. This measure is expected to pass within the next few days.

The past week was perhaps Mr. Biden’s most successful as president, starting with the killing of the world’s most wanted terrorist and ending with the unemployment falling to its lowest level in 50 years.

In between, Mr. Biden celebrated Sen. Krysten Sinema, Arizona Democrat and another crucial holdout vote, finally endorsing his spending bill; gas prices hitting a 50-day low, and voters in red-state Kansas giving Democrats hope in the midterms by overwhelmingly rejecting an amendment that would ban most abortions.

” For anyone who doubted Joe Biden’s approach or policies to governing, this week was further evidence about his leadership ability in times of crisis,” stated Antjuwan Seawright, Democratic strategist. “Polls numbers don’t show his ability to govern.”

These victories provide a lifeline to Mr. Biden as well as the Democrats. Analysts have predicted that the Senate and House will be lost by the Democrats in the fall midterms.

And Mr. Biden has lost his popularity. A New York Times/Siena College released last month found that 64% of Democrats want someone other than Mr. Biden to be the party’s nominee in 2024, while a CNN poll put that figure as high as 75%.
Things had looked terrible for President Obama. In addition to low poll numbers within his own party, he was criticized for his slow response to the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade; his climate bill was dead in the water, and he tested positive a second time for COVID-19.

Mr. Seawright stated that the latest string of wins is a big game changer for midterms which are less than 100 day away.

” For all the people who predicted doom, what is their prediction? What are they saying now with 54 days of dropping gas prices and a strong economic jobs report?” he said.

Republicans say Mr. Biden and the Democrats have too many hurdles to overcome for one good week to make a difference. They note that inflation is still at its highest level in 40 years, gas prices are still well above where they were last year, and Mr. Biden’s approval rating is still mired in the low 40s.

“Prices are still unbelievably high, products still cost more, and families are still struggling to pay for food and gas. James Keady (a GOP strategist) said that just because Biden has a great week does not mean it’s over.

While Mr. Biden’s fortunes have been reversed has given Democrats some momentum heading into the midterms. However, many political observers wonder how much longer it will last. In early August, when most voters were on vacation, the president won his winning streak. Forecasters cautioned that three months in the future can be hard to forecast based only on one week.

” There are ebbs, flows and each administration,” stated Stephen Medvic of Franklin & Marshall College. “I think this can help Democrats avoid a worst-case scenario of losing 40 to 60 [House] seats, but historically the president’s party always does terribly in the midterms. It might make things less bad.”

Ironically, Mr. Biden is racking up victories while sidelined with COVID-19. After seven consecutive days of positive test results, he made very few public appearances while residing in isolation at the White House.
His greatest victory was perhaps Friday’s best job report of his presidency. Employers added 528,000 jobs in July, more than double the prediction of Wall Street analysts.
The overall unemployment rate was 3.5% according to the Labor Department.

The strong report allows Mr. Biden to argue that the economy is still healthy, despite the two quarters of declining GDP growth. This has led Republican criticism that the U.S. went into recession.
But it was not Mr. Biden’s only luck last week.

Last Monday, Mr. Biden announced that the U.S. killed Ayman al-Zawahri, one of the masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, who had eluded capture for over 20 years. Al-Zawahri, who was standing on a Kabul balcony when a CIA drone struck, was shot and killed.

Democrats and Republicans celebrated the operation, with even longtime foe Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, saying the president “deserves credit” for the strike.

The success of the operation not only put Republicans in an awkward situation of crediting Mr. Biden but also allowed the president to claim victory for his strategy to combat terror threats with no U.S. troops on the ground. He was able to use it as a way to defend his faulty withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.
This is something that both Republicans and Democrats should cheer for,” Mr. Keady stated. You must also remember that this administration has made numerous foreign policy mistakes in Afghanistan. And does one win make up the string of failed ?”

policies?

Gas prices fell to $4.50 per gallon in the last week. This is the lowest level in eight weeks. 11 per gallon, down more than 70 cents per gallon since the beginning of July, according to AAA, the automobile group.

The administration has celebrated more than 50 straight days of lowering gas prices.
But energy prices can fluctuate. Many energy experts fear that gas prices will rise again in October. J. P. Morgan, along with other analysts, warned Russia that it could cut off its supply of gas in response to the tighter sanctions placed on Moscow due to the conflict in Ukraine.
It is possible to avoid the worst case scenario, however some Democrats are still nervous.
On Wednesday, Kansas voters rejected an amendment to allow the state legislature ban abortions. This convincing win for abortion rights advocates could motivate voters to vote pro-choice in the fall. Turnout in the Kansas primary was up nearly 60% from the last primary in 2018.
The vote in Kansas suggests that even conservative areas of the country aren’t as ideologically oriented as they want to be,” Robert Rowland of the University of Kansas, who teaches presidential rhetoric. Biden does have some options because they can save candidates from being too extreme .”
Mr. Keady claims that Kansas’s vote may be an indicator of the outcome in the midterms is exaggerated.

He said

“Americans were not single-issue voters. The abortion referendum was a microcosm vote on one issue. Americans will still have to decide on gasoline prices and leadership. .”
Mr. Biden won another win Thursday, when Ms. Sinema supported his domestic agenda, after a compromise with the party leaders. The agreement gives Democrats the likely 50 votes to push Mr. Biden’s climate and spending bill through the Senate. The bill, called the Inflation Reduction Act (or ), is a reduced version of Mr. Biden’s Build Back Better package. It had been stalled for more than a year due to opposition by Ms. Sinema, Mr. Manchin.

Mr. Manchin said last week that he would back President Obama’s plan. This will kick off Mr. Biden’s winning streak.

” “It’s a great opportunity for us in fall,” stated Mr. Seawright. It will be felt by people when gasoline prices drop and unemployment drops .”

In the last week, the Senate also approved two bipartisan measures that Mr. Biden championed. Senators voted to approve expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with the addition of Finland and Sweden by a 95-to-1 vote, while another measure to aid veterans exposed to toxic burn pits passed 86-to-11.
These legislative wins come after two bipartisan victories for Mr. Biden within the Senate in recent weeks. The Senate in June passed his gun safety bill by a 65-to-33 vote, and a bill that would invest billions in domestic semiconductor manufacturing cleared the Senate last week, 64-to-33.

Read More