New Year Could Be Bad for Democrats - Voters Say Biden Has Flunked on Almost Every Issue
In 2022, Democrats in Washington are looking forward to making political hay with their commission on the January 6th riot at the Capitol, and they still hope to pass a smaller version of the almost dead "Build Back Better" Act.
But voters are concerned about other issues that could seriously damage Democrats in this year's midterm elections.
Issue number one is inflation, running at its highest rate in nearly 40 years. An ABC/Ipsos poll shows 69% of voters disapprove of how President Biden is handling inflation.
And 57% disapprove of his handling of the economy overall.
In fact, Biden got poor marks on almost every issue.
And with 16 major U.S. cities seeing record homicides last year, almost two-thirds disapprove of his handling of crime.
Biden's COVID approval rating is now at its lowest point since he took office. He promised to shut down the virus, but more have died under Biden than under former President Donald Trump. With the omicron variant continuing to spread heading into the depths of winter, critics blame the Biden administration for a shortage of tests all over the country.
Meanwhile, a new study shows the omicron variant may be the final phase of the pandemic, and polling shows Americans now care more about inflation.
Neha Chawla, owner of The Village Edgewater in Edgewater, New Jersey said, "As a business owner, everything is more expensive. I own a cafe, and my business partner and I see that everything that we need, coffee cups, coffee, sugar, milk, everything is a lot more expensive."
Biden blames inflation on the disruption caused by COVID.
"The reason for inflation is that we have a supply chain problem that is really severe and is causing a significant increase in prices and things that in fact are hard to get access to because, at the bottom, the bottom of all is COVID," Biden said.
But House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the buck stops with Biden. "After his policies caused gas prices to skyrocket, he said he would lower the gas price. He hasn't done it, he's even made it worse."
And Biden faces severe challenges overseas as well. Russia has an estimated 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, possibly poised to invade. On another dangerous front, some experts wonder if China's Olympics will go badly because of human rights boycotts and whether that could lead an angry China to finally invade Taiwan.
There will also be continued tension as the U.S. and other countries try to negotiate with Iran over its ongoing nuclear program.
And in foreign policy, Biden again gets low marks from voters. Most of those who were polled said they don't trust him to negotiate with Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine crisis, as 2022 brings serious political challenges both at home and abroad.
