National problems instead of Ukraine: US voters put a noose around Biden’s neck

National problems instead of Ukraine
US voters put noose around Biden’s neck

By Roland Peters
4/20/2022, 7:02 p.m

A pound for the Democrats in 2020 was the broad support of young voters. That has changed. Progressives say the US president has broken his campaign promises. The clock is ticking until the congressional elections.

When Donald Trump was still US President and Joe Biden was only a candidate, the Democrat applied with a promise. With him, life for Americans will become calmer and therefore better. No more unpredictable politics and an uncertain future. After 15 months, the Americans don’t feel much of this, on the contrary. And the Democrats fear they will face the consequences in November’s congressional elections.

Biden has been stuck in the polls since last summer, and thus like a block on the leg of his party colleagues. The prospects for the Democratic candidates and thus for two more years with majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate are bleak. Biden should actually be concentrating on domestic politics, but he is currently very busy with diplomacy relating to the Ukraine war. The everyday problems of the voters are different, above all the high inflation and the persistently high costs of medical care. Because there was no government Covid aid, almost four million families slipped into poverty at the beginning of the year. From single mothers were already in the 2020 election year nearly a quarter below the poverty line.

Young voters between the ages of 18 and 34 have deserted the Democrats in droves. In no age group has approval decreased so sharply since Biden was sworn in: since January 2021, depending on the survey, around minus 20 percentage points. At the Opinion research institute Civiqs for example, it’s minus 29 points among blacks, minus 24 points among Hispanics, and minus 21 points among young Americans without a college degree. All of these are constituencies that the Democrats are building on and that made the 2020 victory possible.

The President has not fulfilled some of his promises to these groups. In particular, voters under the age of 30 had him in the White House helped. In any case, they feel less represented than others by the two large parties. The younger the voter in the US, the weaker the connection to Republicans or Democrats. So if you don’t deliver, you lose the votes of the under-30s first. They are therefore an important indicator of disappointed voters.

“wait” becomes “never”

Referring to progressive projects in the Democrats, “there’s always ‘wait’ which ends up being ‘never’ and that’s why young people and workers are fed up,” says Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, professor of African-American Studies at the Princeton University from the US progressive medium “Common Dreams” quoted. Biden had announced a fight against police violence, but then promised the police more money, the prominent academic tweeted; there is also no movement on student debt relief and climate change, and marijuana continues to be criminalized.

Student loans and climate change are particularly important to younger voters. More than 43 million Americans have educational debts, with an average burden of more than $37,000. The government is currently only deferring repayments by decree. Progressive left forces also point to the failed Build Back Better package. This should push the conversion to a more environmentally friendly US economy and thus slow down climate change, but failed in the Senate because of the interests of the fossil energy industry. This may fuel fears for the future.

In February, Americans as a whole viewed the economy and high medical prices as most urgent problems for the year 2022. In March, inflation reached 8.5 percent compared to the same month last year, the highest inflation in 40 years. At the same time, nothing more is heard of public health insurance, which the Democrats announced and discussed down to the last detail during the election campaign. Instead, Biden closed a care gap for low-income families in Obamacare by decree.

Democrats want a Senate majority

The Democrats currently have the majority in both chambers and therefore also head the topic-related committees there. According to current forecasts, they will lose the House of Representatives, which is completely reassembled every two years, in November. In the Senate, on the other hand, the Democrats still have a small chance of turning things around. If the Democrats lose just one seat, the majority in the Senate is gone. The presumably decisive races are currently being formed there: Among other things, there is one item each for the states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

US unemployment is at its lowest level in half a century, but inflation still paints a negative overall picture of the economy. According to pollsters and advisers to the Democrats, it is now a question of communicating the things that have already been achieved, such as the infrastructure package. In addition, the White House wants to make another attempt to get the “Build Back Better” package through Congress in a modified form. It should include measures to combat climate change and reduce healthcare costs. But whether Biden will manage to convince all senators this time remains to be seen. In particular, Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia blocked.

The outcome of the November election will determine how Biden can govern through 2024. He is the oldest ever incumbent US President. The question is whether Biden wants or will be able to apply for a second term starting in 2024. He hasn’t submitted the relevant documents yet, however according to He is said to have told the US medium “The Hill” to confidants – including his former companion Barack Obama – that he would like to compete again. It is not yet clear who his adversary would be. Should it be Trump again, Biden could give a boost. Because in 2020, many voted for the Democrat because they wanted to get rid of Trump.

But for now, the focus is on the congressional elections. “We have to convince voters that things are better because of our time in power,” said a Democrat official at Politico quoted: “If people think they’ll be better in the summer, we have a chance in the fall. If not, then we don’t have one.”