Biden Blames Trump Voters For Virginia Defeat
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – With his approval ratings plummeting in opinion polls, U.S. President Joe Biden rushed to deny that his Democratic Party’s shock loss in the Virginia governor’s race was a verdict on his presidency.
The defeat of Democrat Terry McAuliffe by Republican Glenn Youngkin, a political newcomer, raised questions about the political future of Biden and his supporters.
Biden won the state of Virginia by 10 percentage points a year earlier and last week campaigned for McAuliffe in a desperate attempt to show the durability of his popularity.
But with jobs and the economy critical themes in the southeastern state, voters did not want to back an ally of an embattled president.
A majority of Americans now disapprove of President Biden’s job performance, and most think the country is heading in the wrong direction, said an NBC News poll this week.
Ironically, Biden blamed “Trump voters” and social ills for the surprise defeat of Terry McAuliffe.
Speaking at the White House, he noted that voters are “upset and uncertain about a lot of things,” including the COVID-19 pandemic, education, the economy, and the price of petrol.
Biden said Democrats should have passed his massive signature $1.75 trillion package of social and climate programs and a $1 trillion infrastructure bill before Tuesday’s vote.
He added: “But I’m not sure I would be able to have changed the number of very conservative folks who turned out in the red districts who were Trump voters.”
But pollsters suggest there is also mutiny within his Democratic Party after key Democratic Senator Joe Manchin called Biden’s 1.75 trillion package “a recipe for economic crisis.”
In the NBC News poll released Monday, only 42 percent of adults said they approved Biden’s overall job performance.
The number – which includes most Democrats – declined 7 points since August. Nearly half of those surveyed gave the president low marks for uniting the country, and 60 percent rate Biden’s stewardship of the economy negatively.
The Biden-led chaotic and deadly military withdrawal from Afghanistan also didn’t help improve his image as a determined leader.
Poll findings were released just days before the vote in Virginia that some saw as a referendum on Biden’s presidency.
Democrats concede it’s a troubling sign ahead of next year’s general midterm elections for the House of Representatives and a third of Senate seats.
It has raised doubts about the re-election chances of Biden or a presidential bid by his vice-President Kamala Harris.
The emboldened former President Donald J. Trump is exploring a possible run for a second term in 2024, several sources say.
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