Only Trump was in worse electoral shape than Biden after his first year as president

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President Joe Biden’s administration turned 1 year old on Thursday. He entered the White House by beating a historically unpopular president in Donald Trump.

And while Biden started with a lot of promise in public polling data, the results now are anything but good. The President finds himself in a popularity hole as he begins year two of his presidency, and his party is likely to suffer in the midterm elections if things do not turn around. CONTINUED

Harry Enten, CNN

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GOP Voters Still Like Trump, But Many Ambivalent About 2024 Run

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… Republicans aren’t opposed to Trump running again. A recent CBS/You Gov poll taken in early January found 76 percent of 2020 Trump voters either wanted him to run in 2024 or to “fight to be put in office right now.” A November Marquette University poll found 60 percent of Republicans wanted him to run for president, while 40 percent did not.

Yet, for a few weeks now, I’ve picked up signs of ambivalence from some GOP voters about the thought of Trump running again in 2024. These aren’t anti-Trump types. They like Trump. They’d support a candidate for a down-ballot contest like Senate or House who had Trump’s backing. But, they are not sure they want a re-run. CONTINUED

Amy Walter, Cook Political Report with Amy Walter

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Democrats still back Biden, but evidence of unease among moderates

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Democrats still overwhelmingly approve of President Biden’s overall job performance, but approval among members of his own party has slipped some over the year of his term — from a high of 94% at the beginning in February to 81% today. The decline is most pronounced among the more moderate members of the Democratic Party as opposed to liberals. Many moderates are questioning Biden’s priorities and effectiveness, more so than his ideology. CONTINUED

Fred Backus, CBS News

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Congressional Approval Sinks to 18% as Democrats Sour Further

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Americans’ approval rating of the job Congress is doing has fallen to 18%, the lowest point in more than a year, as congressional Democrats’ efforts to pass spending and voting rights bills have stalled. The latest five-percentage-point decline in congressional approval is largely attributed to a 10-point decline among Democrats whose frustration appears to be mounting with their party’s senators and representatives who hold majorities in both houses of Congress. CONTINUED

Megan Brenan, Gallup

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CNN Poll: As Supreme Court ruling on Roe looms, most Americans oppose overturning it

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Most Americans oppose overturning the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade precedent, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, with a majority saying that if the decision was vacated, they’d want to see their own state move toward more permissive abortion laws.

Just 30% of Americans say they’d like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe vs. Wade decision, with 69% opposed — a finding that’s largely consistent both with other recent polling and with historical trends. CONTINUED

Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN

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Biden as a New F.D.R.? Try L.B.J.

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Joseph R. Biden Jr. was supposed to be another Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democratic president who enacted transformative liberal legislation and in doing so built a lasting political coalition. …

The decision to prioritize the goals of his party’s activist base over the issues prioritized by voters is more reminiscent of the last half-century of politically unsuccessful Democratic presidents than of Mr. Roosevelt himself. It’s not so much Mr. Roosevelt’s New Deal as Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. One launched an era of Democratic dominance; the other brought that era to its end.

It is a presidency aimed at matching Mr. Roosevelt’s transformative legacy while forgetting the most basic, high school history class lesson about the root of the New Deal’s political appeal: It was designed to meet the challenges of the moment. CONTINUED

Nate Cohn, New York Times

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