Eight weeks in, President Joe Biden has overseen a huge Covid relief win, surging vaccinations and declining case counts. As Wall Street sets new records, forecasters predict an economic boom. And yet, from his sixth day in office to his sixtieth, Biden’s approval rating barely budged. …
And history suggests his current standing won’t be enough for Democrats to keep control of Congress next year. The president’s party has lost House seats in 19 of the last 21 midterm elections. Trump, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, all of whom began with larger partisan cushions than Biden, all lost the House two years into their presidencies.
A red hot economy might tilt historical odds in Biden’s favor. Already poised for resurgence, then revved up further by his Covid relief plan, the US economy will expand 7% this year and 5.1% in 2022, Goldman Sachs analysts now predict. That would represent the strongest years of back-to-back growth since the 1960s. CONTINUED
John Harwood, CNN
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