Why everyone hates Joe Biden.
Everyone hates Joe Biden. It’s pretty simple, his approval rating is low, his favorability is even lower but why? He hasn’t had a watergate or alienated any specific groups so still the question persists why does everyone hate Joe Biden? The best way to answer that is with America’s favourite political pastime: the polls.
There’s a general rule that if the economy is good, the president is re-elected. So could that be why everyone hates Joe Biden? Well a gallup poll from last month recorded almost 80% of Americans worrying either a great deal or somewhat about inflation but despite their fears, inflation is down to 3.2%, levels we haven’t seen since march of 2021 when biden was newly inaugurated. That same poll found over 50% of Americans worried either a great deal or somewhat about unemployment but last March we saw over 300,000 new jobs and unemployment fell to 3.8%. That poll also found that over 75% of Americans worried a great deal or somewhat about the economy whereas even FOX news, Biden’s more relentless critic, is being forced to admit that the economy is doing better and better.
So if it’s not the economy, then what is it? Two things come to mind, the first is the war in the middle east. A majority of Americans have said they believe the United States should have a role in brokering peace in the Israel-Hamas war and most people are sick of being barraged by images and stories of dead children, rocket attacks and humanitarian atrocities. They can’t decide if Biden is handling it well, with about a third of Americans thinking he is handling it well, another third poorly and another third unsure. They can’t decide if sending aid to Israel is a good idea with polling showing quite literally no consensus. This is fair as it is a hugely complicated issue, Americans want it to end and want Biden to end it. The second reason: immigration. Immigration was ranked by almost 60% of Americans as a top priority for Biden and Congress to deal with back in January and it is still at the forefront of the mind of the American public. Democrats and Republicans can agree our immigration system needs some sort of reform and every other headline seems to be about the southern border.
One huge issue, perhaps even the nail in the coffin is the relentless fact that the government is old and Joe Biden is even older. Over 65% of the senate is between 60 and 80 years old while only about 18% of Americans fit into that age category. The majority of the house is between 50 and 70 years old but only 20% of Americans fit into that age category. Joe Biden is 81, 5 years older than the average life expectancy. Now while if Joe Biden’s age affects his ability to govern is an entirely separate question, he acts as the mascot for this ageing government. Mitch Mcconell and Bernie Sanders are both 82, Nancy Pelosi is 84 and Dianne Feinstien was 90 when she died in office last year. One look at the tiktok or facebook hearings will show how truly out of touch our government is and their age is a huge factor.
But really it doesn’t matter what happens in the middle east, the unemployment rate or any sort of scandal because no matter how good of a president he is, he has been doomed from the beginning and can’t escape it. There’s something that no number or three minute read can truly capture, that is, he is the head of an unpopular government in a tumultuous time, he is the easiest person to blame for anything bad in your life and everyone does it, rivals support and reiterate it, it’s all over the news and sometimes we let that blind us from actually seeing his merit — which im aware is not perfect but is worth examining before we blame him for every problem.
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