(New York Sun) - President Biden, in Michigan this week, is basically arguing that opposing his reckless spending big government socialist plan will lead to America’s decline. Plus, he frequently argues that he has tremendous support for his plan. He is even arguing that Republicans outside of Congress support his plan. Here’s what Mr. Biden said yesterday:
“These bills are not about left versus right. Or moderate versus progressive or anything that pits Americans against one another. These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency. They’re about opportunity versus decay. They’re about leading the world or continuing to let the world pass us by, which is literally happening. To support these investments is to create a rising America. America is moving. To oppose these investments is to be complicit in America’s decline.”
With all due respect Mr. President, virtually every poll shows that American voters disagree with you. So you might want to think about these numbers. From Trafalgar, 71% of Americans say that they won’t support Mr. Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package if it increases their taxes.
The Morning Consult poll shows that 52% oppose making child tax credits permanent. Only 35% support it,
and in the same poll, 52% disapprove of Mr. Biden’s handling of the economy; 40% approve.
In the recent Gallup poll, 54% believe that Republicans would do better at keeping America safe from foreign threats, while 39% say Democrats would do better. In the same poll, 50% believe that Republicans would keep America more prosperous; only 41% think that Democrats will.
A recent Tipp poll shows that 51% of Americans support cutting spending to stop inflation. Also from the Tipp poll, 51% of independents oppose Mr. Biden’s reconciliation plan. The Quinnipiac poll shows that 54% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s position on taxes.
In the same poll, 55% of Americans think that the Biden administration is not competent; 58% disapprove of the president’s job as commander in chief; 67% disapprove of the situation at the Mexican border; 58% disapprove of handling of foreign policy.
In the generic congressional vote, Republicans are up three points over Democrats, which really means they’re probably up ten. So Mr. President, you might want to rethink your view that the country is in full-throated support of you, your management skills, and your policies.
Now, I don’t believe in governing by the polls. I never have. Yet when you see a bunch of them, including at least one conservative leaning poll besides the usual lefties, you kind of have to think there’s a disconnect between you and voter support. Basically, with voters saying inflation is the number one problem on the economy, why would any more than a few people want to spend another $6 trillion?
If you’re worried about 11 million unfilled jobs, concerns about the blue collar middle class where real wages are falling, not to speak of global competitiveness, especially with Communist China, would you really want to raise business taxes, capital gains taxes, investment taxes, estate taxes, or individual taxes? Especially since that would leave Communist China with lower tax rates on cap gains and corporations.
This is not good. Basically, to quote the words attributed to Abe Lincoln: “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
With gasoline and oil prices going up and up, you really wouldn’t want to shut down America’s world number one fossil fuel industry and then go begging on your hands and knees to Saudi Arabia and Russia now, would you? Or with natural gas prices soaring, would you really want a Green New Deal that would shut down natural gas and therefore jack up prices on home heating fuel, so essential to America’s middle class.
Finally, it’s crosswise with American common sense to suggest that big government socialist planning and welfare dependency with no means tested entitlements or time limits or workfare or education requirements would somehow strengthen the morale of American workers and family. Without work there’s no opportunity to climb the ladder of success.
So I would just say, Mr. President, you have some serious rethinking to do. The unpopularity of your policies is staggering, and it’s not about complex economic models or academic debates. It’s just good old fashioned common sense. Americans know a phony when they see one.
By LAWRENCE KUDLOW
Second Edition | October 7, 2021
