President Biden attracts high marks for his first hundred days
Republicans and Bernie Sanders supporters alike made the same mistake. Popularity (or lack thereof) on social media doesn’t necessarily translate to votes in the real world. The true measure of a President’s popularity is still best captured by polls, however imperfect they may be. The internet isn’t the real world, and all those “dislikes” on Joe Biden’s YouTube livestream don’t necessarily mean that Joe Biden isn’t popular.
It’s more indicative of the impotent anger of some Republicans and diehard Bernie supporters. Americans for the most part are just like the President, at work doing their jobs. They’re too busy to waste time artificially registering likes or dislikes on YouTube. As with the number of people at a Trump rally, or the number of boats in a Trump regatta, all those Internet antipathies really don’t mean that much at the end of the day, When imagining all those angry dislikes it’s easy to imagine the perpetrators as the usual clichés. How many of them, one can’t help but wonder, are unpleasant, unavailing little incels in their mother’s basements? The rest may be bots, Russian or otherwise.
Joe Biden is enjoying a popular (though not unprecedented) first hundred days, particularly compared to Trump. President Biden’s overall popularity with the American public is at 59% compared to Trump’s 39% at the same point. The President acquits himself respectably against other recent presidents as well. Only Barack Obama (61%) and Ronald Reagan (67%) have had better first hundred days. George W. Bush was at 55% and his father at 58%. Bill Clinton scored 49%.
Part of the reason for Biden’s popularity is his handling of the pandemic. A whopping 72% of Democrats and a remarkable 55% of Republicans think the President’s handling of the vaccination distribution has been excellent. The 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill was also popular with ⅔ of the country. It seems only Republican lawmakers didn’t like it.
Speaking of whom, Republicans in Congress are doing their utmost to subvert the President’s popularity by exaggerating the “crisis” at the US/Mexican border. One cannot help but wonder if they’re putting too many eggs in that basket. While they play their pitiful game of aggrievement politics, Vice President Kamala Harris is quietly at work. One cannot help but wonder what surprises she may have in store for the pearl-clutchers in Congress. Whatever it is, like the conviction of Derek Chauvin, I have a feeling Republicans are going to hate it, despite the fact that it’s good for the country. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.