President Biden’s policy agenda is incredibly popular, much more popular than his opponent’s. But Biden the man? Not so much.

The question now is whom to blame for the approval gap between the president and his agenda: voters, the media or Biden himself.

Democrats have long argued that their policies are more popular than those of Republicans. In a recent blind test conducted by YouGov, that was unmistakably true. The polling organization asked Americans what they thought about major policies proposed by Biden and Donald Trump without specifying who proposed them. The idea was to see how the public perceived ideas when stripped of tribal associations.

Biden’s agenda was the winner, hands down.

Of the 28 Biden proposals YouGov asked about, 27 were supported by more people than opposed them. Impressively, 24 received support from more than 50 percent of respondents.

  • Milk_Sheikh
    192·
    4 months ago

    The reporters sensed it instantly. Even though the 90-minute debate was only seconds old, they felt it was already over… He had not been warm. He had not been likable. He had not shown emotion. He had merely shown principle.

    In 1988 Michael Dukakis had his campaign torpedoed by poor debate performance when asked ambushed with a hard gotcha question.

    Another candidate might have survived that first question and answer. But not Dukakis. It devastated him because his coldness was already an issue.

    And it is the same with Biden. The biggest anxiety of both his supporters and haters was demonstrated on national television. How do I defend that when arguing with people about who to vote for in the election?

    • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world
      10·
      4 months ago

      This quote from the article really hits home:

      Afterward, his aides would try to explain that he had been sick. He had seen two doctors before the debate. He had a fever, a virus. He wasn’t himself.

      But while he may have been sick, he was himself. That was the problem.

    • Fades@lemmy.worldEnglish
      83·
      4 months ago

      I’d rather have old and moral vs barely less old without any morals

      • Milk_Sheikh
        11·
        4 months ago

        Agreed. But it gets real hard really fast to convince people that Biden is the only real choice, when your argument becomes “Not Trump”.

        If this was the first time this had happened, it could potentially be played off “He’s campaigning hard and worn down” “There was an unexpected interaction with his prescriptions that caused it”