It turns out Joe Biden’s second State of the Union was the speech that wasn’t. It wasn’t uplifting or enlightening or even explanatory. It wasn’t rhetorically strong or politically rational, appealing only to his narrow partisan base. It certainly wasn’t unifying, despite Biden’s many references to unity and calls to […] Read more »
The State of Biden’s Next Campaign
Key Points• President Biden’s successful State of the Union address suggested he’s full speed ahead on running for a second term.• Despite polls showing that even many Democrats would prefer Biden not to run again, he has no real opposition within his own party — and the State of the […] Read more »
Feisty Joe Biden Is Back
It was a raucous, interactive, and argumentative State of the Union like no other. And when it was over, President Joe Biden had provided a clear signal of how he plans to contest the 2024 presidential election. Leaning hard into his populist “Scranton Joe” persona, an energetic and feisty Biden […] Read more »
Will President Biden’s State of the Union move numbers?
… Very rarely do State of the Union speeches meaningfully improve presidents’ approval ratings. Moving numbers is not really the key objective, and that should not be the criteria by which they are judged. Examining ratings before and after these addresses demonstrates that since 1978, the average State of the […] Read more »
In divided nation, Americans do agree on this: Biden should talk about economy — CBS News poll
The state of our union is … ? We asked people to describe it, and received some dour assessments: they picked “divided” most of all, followed by “declining” and “weak.” Few picked adjectives “strong,” or — amid tough economic ratings — “prospering.” These aren’t just one-sided partisan points. Partisans share […] Read more »
The models shaping Biden’s State of the Union
When President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday night, he will face a challenge that also confronted each of his four immediate predecessors: responding to an election that ended his party’s unified control of Congress. Like Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill […] Read more »