Dems Growing Increasingly Concerned by Midterm Prospects as Biden Polling Numbers Drop

Many Democrats have already raised the alarm over their party's strategy and prospects for the 2022 midterm elections, given that Democratic President Joe Biden is seeing record-low polling numbers, and past strategies solely based on being "anti-Trump" may not bring the desired results.

Democrats are growing increasingly nervous about their midterm prospects as Biden's popularity within the party falls, Politico reported. According to the publication, the House Democrats' campaign arm conducted a poll earlier in the month that showed 52 percent of voters disapproving the job that Joe Biden is doing as US president.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin characterised Biden's numbers as "scary", while Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said that the Democrats are in a "difficult period".

"One of the challenges we have is, we’ve been legislating this year, as he has”, Casey said. “While you’re legislating, you’re not communicating”.

Some Democrats reportedly hope that Biden's approval ratings may recover as soon as the party finally secures its massive agenda, the sweeping "Build Back Better" act that envisages colossal spending on infrastructure, social benefits, and climate change while the country is weathering the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and struggling with an economy on the verge of a possible debt default.

“Maybe it would be the first time that the Democratic Party has ever been disciplined on message”, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “But theoretically we could finish a historic year of legislating for the middle class in the next month and spend all of our next year talking about what we did”.

However, lawmakers from both parties have noted that it will be hard for the voters to focus on possible advantages of the massive social spending bill if these are shadowed by troubles brought by the pandemic and a shaky economy.

Besides, Biden and his party have had plenty of setbacks during his first year of presidency: from the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan that hit his polling numbers hard, to the stinging loss in the Virginia gubernatorial race, in which Republican Glenn Youngkin won a state that had been considered to be a Democratic stronghold since 2008.

All of this could affect the outcome of the upcoming 2022 midterms, and GOP members appear to already be getting ready to seize their chance.

“He’s got a perfect storm of bad issues," Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said of Biden's prospects in his state. "At the moment we’ve got a great shot of taking the majority in the Senate.”