The evacuation in Afghanistan and handling of covid crisis in the US has plummeted the popularity of Joe Biden.
New Delhi: Some surveys and so-called popularity ratings are fashionable. It is also fashionable to dismiss some of these when it comes to the story of growing up the ladder for the likes of Narendra Modi. However, some of these surveys throw up broad indications.
On the global stage, Joe Biden has been coming down the graph. This is a matter of concern because somehow, the prestige and aura of the US President is also linked to the positioning of the US as a superpower and its 'loosening grip'.
It is good for the world to turn multipolar, but the manner some radical Islamists and 'expansionist' designs are gaining currency is certainly not a good sign.
In 2020 polls and around the time results came in with Americans rejecting Trumpism, Joe Biden was seen as the "adult in the room", as The US News says – who could fix the coronavirus with his emphasis on sticking with science and using all the tools of government.
But in 2021, things are reversing. It is not only the Afghanistan fiasco, even on various domestic issues, but the Democrat regime is also found wanting.
The economists are talking about the 'weakening consumer trendlines', and some of them have already declared that America has already entered a 'recession'.
"We suspect that fears linked to Covid will continue to affect the real economy and lie behind consumer expectations about an imminent downturn in the economic situation," David Blanchflower and Alex
Bryson wrote in early October.
It is a fact the pandemic only brought to fore the social 'inequality' in American lives.
Hundreds of lower-paid workers in the service industry have seen their jobs disappear, and even if some have saved their jobs, they have had to put their health and safety at risk zones.
This widening inequality is certainly bad news for the economy. Some experts told the BBC that it's bad for economic growth today and also for educational outcomes, which only would mean 'worse economic growth' in the future.
Of course, the CNBC All-America Economic Survey between October 14 and 17 has some big picture takeaways.
The poll found only 41% of the public in his country approve of Biden's handling of the presidency, as against 52% who disapprove.
At the world stage again, the Global Leader Approval Tracker has lowered Biden's popularity to rank sixth in a ladder where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is way ahead with a 70 per cent score.
Biden also has other challenges. It is well known that the Democrats in the US Congress are riven by "factional bickering".
Some of the fault lines lie in the very image of Democrats too. The media spins do not help.
The US President needs to 'distance' himself from his party’s left fringe, says 'The Economist'. And there are reasons for saying so.
There are perception issues too. When Republicans get into office, they do things they say they want to do, but Democrats never do. And secondly, democrats do not criticise their politicians when they do the exact things they blast the Republican
leaders.
In the words of Paris-based senior journalist Ramin Mazaheri: "To avoid discussions of realities, the US media is paid to whip up the basest emotions over the most moral of public concerns and to treat elections like horse races for gambling. There is ruthless suppression of any sustained discussion of ideas… We can’t say that American’s aren’t somewhat aware – a slim majority of America does prefer to classify themselves apart as “independent,” but they are powerless to stop the endless conservatism" – as reported in 'Tehran Times'.
A CNN writes up summed up the situation well.
"Roughly nine months into his presidency, Joe Biden is on the verge of writing his name into the history books — and not in a good way. The latest polling from Gallup pegs the President's approval at just 42%, the lowest of his term to date and the second-lowest of any president."
The report held the mirror. Biden popularity 42% (272 days into his presidency)
– Donald Trump 37% (first 283 days), Barack Obama 52% (first 271 days) and George W. Bush 88 % in the first 288 days.
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