In the final Gallup poll taken just before the election, 72% of Americans said they were dissatisfied with the way things were going in the U.S. That incredibly high number was actually the lowest it had been in the last two years, having mostly been measured in the high 70s and low 80s over that time.
For the people charged with getting the president reelected, this should have haunted them each day. That’s not a number that breaks across party lines. Biden might still have the backing of his most faithful supporters, but everyone else is looking for change.
So, it’s deeply puzzling that when given the opportunity to anoint a new presidential nominee, the Democrats not only stuck with the vice-president but refused to distance Kamala Harris from Biden’s disastrous policies.
None was more damning than her comment on The View that not only would she not do anything different, but she was an important voice in the decisions Biden made: “There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of – and I’ve been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact, the work that we have done.”
Three out of four Americans are unhappy with the way you’ve been running the country and “not a thing comes to mind” that you would change?
That was the gaffe heard ‘round the world from which she would never recover. If she was on the ballot and unwilling to break with Biden, voters couldn’t trust her to fix the economic and security issues most important to them that were obviously dragging the country down.
Meanwhile, Trump not only said what voters wanted to hear, but had a clear and demonstrable record of doing it. Before COVID the economy was booming, and the border was as secure as it had ever been. Voters remembered.
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