President Joe Biden likes to make up stories about how he will be on track for reelection and how the polls are just wrong.
Earlier this month, he told donors, “The media won’t report it, but the momentum is clearly in our favor. The polls are moving in our favor and away from Trump.”
Unfortunately for Biden, that’s not what the “media” says. Because that’s not true But the polls say otherwise, with former President Donald Trump leading Biden in most polls, including in battleground states that will determine the outcome of this election.
While Biden remains upbeat about the betting odds, his actions betray what he really feels: panic.
In the last week alone, Biden announced two measures that scream uncertainty about himself.
Biden believes money can buy victory
First, the administration announced a “strategic release” of 1 million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve created after Superstorm Sandy a decade ago, allowing drivers to save a little money on road trips this summer just months before the election.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is focused on lowering gasoline prices for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for the summer driving season,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
Strategic, I would say. The thing is, this reserve is there for emergencies.
So what is the emergency? I would bet on Biden’s terrible poll numbers.
Does Biden really want to debate?Biden got his wish to debate Trump, but it probably won’t be the victory he thinks it will be.
Biden also fell back on his staple tactic for winning over struggling young voters by announcing more student loan “forgiveness.”
The administration announced Wednesday that it would cancel $7.7 billion in loans for about 160,000 borrowers, most of whom were on income-contingent repayment plans, bringing the total amount paid out so far to $167 billion for nearly 5 million people.
Lucky for them, but not so lucky for the rest of us who must shoulder the burden of debt — and that includes all Americans who worked hard to pay it off, or who don’t have a college degree.
It’s an odd obsession for Biden, who continues to seek (possibly illegal) ways to unilaterally cancel the debt after trying to do so last year and being struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
To make matters worse, student loan “relief” and other perks directly contribute to voters’ biggest concern: inflation.
Sorry, Mr. Biden. The polls don’t lie.
It is no wonder that Biden is losing to Trump, especially on the economy.
Rising prices remain the top concern for American adults, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll, and not surprisingly, they trust Trump more than Biden by 14 percentage points on both the economy and inflation.
According to the Cook Political Report, voters are more worried about Biden setting economic and immigration policy than they are about Trump setting abortion policy.
This should be a major concern for Democrats, because abortion was meant to be a winnable issue for them in the 2024 elections, just as it was in the midterm elections.
On Biden’s tariffs:Are you worried about the high prices we’re paying? Biden’s tariffs will make it worse.
And a Reuters/Ipsos poll found Biden’s approval rating fell to 36 percent this month, his lowest level in two years.
Biden had every confidence that voters would refuse to vote for Trump again after his disastrous defeat in the 2020 election.
But what’s really happening is that this election has become a referendum on the incumbents, and voters don’t like the result.
It’s sickening that Biden thinks election-year bribery can make up for four years of failed policies.
Surely Americans are smarter than that.
Ingrid Jack is a columnist for USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Ingrid Jack.
