The Washington Post editorial board warned that President Biden‘s efforts to defeat former President Trump in a 2024 presidential rematch may depend on how loyal he is to the “wish lists” of left-leaning interest groups ahead of the election.
“Mr. Trump could well win if their rematch were today, but Mr. Biden has eight months to improve his fortunes. Nodding to the priorities of every Cabinet agency and the wish lists of liberal interest groups won’t shift any narratives,” the Post’s editorial board noted Saturday.
The editorial board’s claim came as it discussed next week’s State of the Union address and warned Biden not to “squander his biggest televised audience of the year by delivering another box-checking laundry list that drags on more than an hour.”
Specifically, the left-leaning news outlet suggested that Biden should promise to use executive action on the border crisis, saying that he “will lose reelection if he doesn’t address the southern border.”
“It’s valid to castigate Republicans for killing the sensible bipartisan border deal, something Mr. Biden did during his visit to a Texas border town on Thursday — but insufficient. He needs to convey he understands that many see the millions of border crossings as a breakdown in one of the federal government’s core responsibilities and outline how he will use executive authorities to stop it if Congress won’t,” the editorial board wrote.
POLLS SHOW BIDEN FACING ‘ENTHUSIASM GAP’ HEADING INTO 2024 ELECTION SEASON
Prompting Biden to resonate with more viewers and listeners, the editorial board insisted the president must “rethink an exhausted format, step up to the bully pulpit and make a case less for himself than for his worldview” as he addresses a joint session of Congress on March 7.
“He needs to push back on the self-defeating isolationism, nativism and protectionism of the ‘America First’ movement, whose ideas are as dangerous now as when they were previously tried, and failed, in the 1930s,” the editorial board wrote.
Several national polls in recent weeks suggest that Biden is suffering from an enthusiasm gap when it comes to how excited voters are to support him in November.
A Monmouth University poll conducted last month showed that only 32% of registered voters feel at least somewhat enthusiastic about Biden’s candidacy, and that number stands at just 62% among Democrats.
The same number of registered voters, 32%, say they are at least somewhat confident in Biden’s physical and mental ability to be president. The same poll shows that confidence in Biden’s abilities among Democrats has dropped significantly to 72% after standing at 91% in 2020.
The Monmouth poll also shows Biden with a meager 39% approval rating and that he is under water on several issues with voters, including jobs, immigration and foreign policy.
BIDEN APPROVAL PLUMMETS TO NEAR CARTER LEVEL: GALLUP
The weak approval rating is backed up by other polls, and the Real Clear Politics average shows that his approval rating has been under 50% since August 2021.
According to Gallup, Biden is significantly losing support from key demographics, including young voters, Black voters and Hispanic voters.
Gallup explained that most of the decline in Black voters referring to themselves as Democrats has been in the last few years.
“Most of the decline has been recent, with the net-Democratic ID for this group falling 19 points from a 66-point advantage in 2020,” Gallup said. “At that time, 77% of Black adults favored the Democrats and 11% the Republicans, so the 2023 findings represent an 11-point decrease in Democratic affiliation since 2020 and an eight-point increase in Republican affiliation.”
Other mainstream news outlets have taken notice of the enthusiasm numbers, including the New York Times editorial board, which wrote earlier this month that Biden “needs to do more to show the public that he is fully capable of holding office until age 86.”
The Biden campaign previously pointed Fox News Digital to “several indicators of enthusiasm” they have seen in favor of the president.
“In the Nevada primary, we saw higher turnout than 2008 – despite that being a far more competitive election,” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said. “The email from the First Lady after the Hur report was our best-performing email since the launch.”
Hitt also pointed to Biden winning “more votes in NH as a write in candidate than Obama did in ‘12” and highlighted that Obama was on the ballot, and Biden wasn’t.
“January was our best grassroots fundraising month ever, we doubled the number of small-dollar donors from December,” Hitt added. “We brought in over $1M in donations following President Biden’s speech marking the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection.”
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
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