The more Donald Trump talks, the deeper he buries himself. At the same time, former Vice President Joe Biden has remained primarily out of the public view. That has worked to Biden’s advantage with him gaining a remarkably strong lead over the president. The interviewees in the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll expressly disapproved of the job the commander-in-chief has been doing with the COVID-19 pandemic, racial tensions, and a plummeting economy.
In an exclusive interview, The Hill gave the nation an early peek into the poll’s outcome:
‘Former Vice President Joe Biden doubled his lead over President Trump to 12 points as voters expressed disapproval with the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus, racial tensions and the economy.’
A full 56 percent of likely voters would vote for Biden should the election be held today. Only 44 percent said they would vote for Trump. That is a 12-point lead, increased from the same poll taken in May.
This poll is reflective of other recent national polls. Trump has been losing ground even in battleground states, The latter determine the outcome of the election. However, based upon the 2016 surprise win, voters are advised to remain active. The video murder of George Floyd by a white policeman and the following protests have touched the country in a significant way.
The Hill continued:
‘Forty-three percent of voters said they approved for Trump, down 4 points from the last Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey and the lowest since early 2018. Meanwhile, 57 percent of voters said they disapproved of the president.’
Polling Director for the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll Mark Penn referenced Trump’s daily briefings from earlier this year. They stopped after the president suggested that people inject themselves with disinfectant as a remedy for the coronavirus:
‘After 11 months of improving ratings, Trump in the last month set back to below 50 percent in his handling of the crisis after the Clorox press conference as he pulled back from the daily briefings. He continues to lag in the national presidential horse race while Biden’s numbers have shown no change up or down. This race is far from over and both candidates have potentially winning scenarios.’
‘A number of other states and national polls show Biden leading Trump. The RealClearPolitics polling average on Tuesday showed Biden up 9.8 points over Trump…Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan also show Biden leading the president, though with narrower margins, raising the prospect the election could tighten with more than four months to go.’
Penn continued, pointing to the problems Trump has encountered recently:
‘This has been a weak month for President Trump and the Republicans who have not found their footing after the emergence of the George Floyd protests and given the concern about a possible second wave and concern about opening up too fast [as states begin to reopen.] Biden’s favorable remains under 50 percent but he shows real strength in this month’s horse race and the Democrats stayed steady as the Republicans tumbled.’
POTUS said on Tuesday that he is preparing another executive order. It would:
‘[R]einforce existing laws in the U.S. that punish people for vandalizing monuments. The statement came hours after protesters tried to topple a statue of President Jackson in Lafayette Square across the street from the White House.’
The nationwide protests have resulted in some defacing or removing historical monuments. Many of the were installed during the Jim Crowe era.
Trump ‘s Tulsa OK rally was a dismal failure for him for three possible reasons:
- People feared the coronavirus pandemic.
- Teens signed up as a prank and did not show.
- Possibly, people have tired of the president’s histrionics.
During his rally, Trump called testing a “double-edged sword” and he ordered his staff to “slow the testing down, please:”
‘I will have an executive order very shortly, and all it’s really going to do is reinforce what’s already there, but in a more uniform way.’
Later, POTUS claimed he had just been joking:
‘Let me make it clear. We have got the greatest testing program anywhere in the world. We test better than anybody in the world. Our tests are the best in the world and we have the most of them. By having more cases it sounds bad, but actually what it is is finding more people.’
It appears that Biden’s relative silence has worked to his advantage, because Trump does best with an adversary. Since the coronavirus pandemic shelter-in-place order, he has not held a press conference, but his lead in the polls continues to widen, according to The Hill:
‘The Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll is performed monthly, and the poll is released by Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies and Harris Insights and Analytics.’
The poll is performed online with 2,000-plus registered voters. Its results include a diverse swath of the country, and the results are weighted for “age, gender, region, race/ethnicity, marital status, household size, income, employment, and education where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.”
Leaning States
Its latest poll contained the opinions of 1,886 randomly selected individuals and was performed on June 17 through June 18:
‘The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll…is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and The Harris Poll. The Hill will be working with Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll throughout 2020.’
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll’s complete results will appear online later in the week. The country has seen plenty of Donald Trump in recent weeks and months. On the other hand, given Biden’s relative quiet; perhaps, a quick look into his background would be worth a look.
His son Beau Biden urged him to run again for president as he lay dying. The son that the father called “his soul” had brain cancer. It was too soon in 2016. The president’s family needed him at home.
Before he was President Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden served six terms as the senator from Delaware. He was elected for the first time when he was 27, coming in under the age ruling in just a hair breadth’s time to qualify.
Since then, he has spent the last half-century in public service. According to The New York Times, he considers himself:
‘[A] steady, seasoned hand in a dangerous and uncertain world.’
Biden has asked advice from both health care and economic experts as he sends his way through the coronavirus pandemic that has sent a tsunami wave across the country. He came away with free and easily-accessible tests and no out-of-pocket costs for the eventual vaccine. The former VP has been “sharply critical” of Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic.
He understands how important health care is to a family. He lost his wife and little daughter in a car accident. His two sons were badly injured both physically and emotionally. As a result, Biden promised them he would come home every night, and he did. No matter how late, he took that train home.
As the former vice president, he worked on the Affordable Care Act (ACA)Â
Biden was born in Scranton, PA in 1942, but the family had to move to Delaware when he was a kid just in third grade, because there just was no work for his father there any longer. He tells wonderful little stories about his parents.
The former senator understands the value of bipartisanship. He wants to see more negotiating with the other side of the aisle. He chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is a strong advocate for “defending America’s role as a leader on the global stage.”
President Obama and former Vice President Biden have a deep friendship. The country misses that era of respect, honor, and patriotism. That would also include Independents and moderate Republicans.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
