OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Democrat Party is facing a catastrophe in the midterm elections if the polls are accurate and history is a guide.
The party in power typically loses in the midterm elections and the polling this year has been abysmal for the Democrats heading into November.
When that is paired with the rise in gas prices and inflation along with a steady stream of crises that the administration of President Joe Biden has faced, the picture gets even more bleak for the party, The Daily Caller reported.
Despite Biden’s temporary bump in national approval after defending Ukraine’s sovereignty in his recent State of the Union address, 57% of voters said they disapproved of his job performance amid inflation and high gas prices, according to new Wall Street Journal polling released Friday. The poll, which surveyed 1,500 known registered voters, was conducted online and via phone between March 2 and March 7 and had 2.5% margin of error.
Voters indicated they no longer trust the Democratic Party to handle COVID-19 and public education issues to the extent as in the WSJ’s previous November 2021 polling. While 41% still believe the Democratic Party is better equipped to handle the nation’s COVID-19 response, only 38% of voters believe the Democrats’ plan improves public education, the poll shows.
When asked about middle-class support, handling inflation and the struggling American economy, voters gave Biden and the Democratic Party a failing grade. Over 50% of voters said the economy and inflation should immediately be the federal government’s top issue.
The Journal said that 50 percent of voters named inflation as the top issue right now and 25 percent said that Russia and Ukraine war was at the top.
This is an issue for the president and Democrats because 63 percent of those polled did not approve of his handling of inflation and 47 percent said that Republicans are better equipped to handle it.
“More voters said that Republicans had a better plan to improve the economy, 45% to 37%, even though Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the party’s leaders in each chamber, have advanced few specific economic-policy proposals they would pursue if they controlled Congress,” The Journal said.
More from the WSJ poll: R+5 on the generic ballot.
“46% of voters said they would back a Republican candidate for Congress if the election were today, compared with 41% who favored a Democrat, with Republicans gaining support among Black and Hispanic voters since the last poll”
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) March 11, 2022
“This is a five-alarm fire for the Democratic Party,” Tom Beaven, who founded Real Clear Politics, said.
This is a 5-alarm fire for the Democratic party.https://t.co/pAyNmZ1ial pic.twitter.com/K6gg6Lt8ir
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) March 11, 2022
The news on the Russia and Ukraine war was good for the president, with 50 percent approving of how he has handled it, and 79 percent approving of his ban on Russian oil, though it remains to be seen how that number changes as gas prices continue to rise.
But in a head to head match with former President Donald Trump, both the president and former president got 45 percent.
“A lot of Democrats will want to use Trump as the boogeyman in the midterm elections, but he’s not on the ballot,” Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio said. “And that’s really important, given how important inflation and the economy are to voters.”
Democratic pollster John Anzalone, who was the head pollster in the presidential campaign of President Biden, painted a dim picture.
“The mood of the country hasn’t gotten any better since the last poll. In fact, it’s gotten a little worse,” he said.
And there was more good news for Republicans, The Journal reported.
The survey also found Republicans making gains among minority groups. By 9 percentage points, Hispanic voters in the new poll said they would back a Republican candidate for Congress over a Democrat. The two parties had been tied among Hispanic voters in the Journal’s survey in November.
Democratic margins also eroded among Black voters, who favored a Democrat for Congress by 35 percentage points in the new survey, down from 56 points in November. Support for a Republican candidate rose to 27% among Black voters, up from 12% in November.
