A new poll exposes America’s disgust with Biden’s recent rhetoric – will it hurt Democrats this fall?
When Donald Trump entered the 2015 presidential election, he did something few politicians could accomplish. Throughout the primary season, he mocked, bullied, belittled, and created caricatures of the 17 other GOP candidates vying for the presidential nomination. Some argued his communication style energized GOP voters who felt his words in a deeply personal way. After eight years of Obama, many conservatives clamored for someone they felt would fight for them instead of the standard political operating procedure.
While I supported Trump in 2016 and 2020, it wasn’t for his rhetoric. He convinced me he understood the stakes if Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden ascended to the presidency. Biden has proven me right. Like many Republicans, I found some of Trump’s statements shameful, hurtful, and highly inappropriate.
Still, his policies rivaled Ronald Reagan. In some instances, Reagan would have clamored for Trump’s accomplishments. He reduced regulations and red tape and dropped corporate tax rates to make America more competitive — The result was a booming economic success. The former president nominated three solid conservative Supreme Court justices to the bench. At the end of his first term, he secured massive gains in the Middle East.
Yet, I doubt Reagan would have approved of Trump’s lack of statesmanship. He offended virtually everyone at one point or another.
For over five years, Democrats attacked the former president viciously. When the Left realized it did not deter Trump’s rhetoric, some in the liberal media turned on GOP voters. Some insinuated if Republican voters cast a ballot for a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic candidate, they must be those things as well. Democrats like Hillary Clinton helped create Trump’s legend by calling his supporters “deplorable.”
Democrats claimed for five years the Republican president divided America. Biden promised to heal the nation. Yet, he’s referred to GOP lawmakers and governors as Jim Crow racists, election suppressionists, insurrectionists, and semi-fascists. Recently, he’s tried to walk back a narrative in which he called GOP voters these things. Still, a review of his words shows Biden did not distinguish between elected officials and those who voted for them. In reality, how could one not influence the other?
The newest poll released after Biden’s “semi-fascist” comment and speech that the nation would lose its way if Americans put Republicans in the majority may not bode well for Democrats. The Trafalgar poll said 56.8% of voters believe Biden’s rhetoric is a dangerous escalation designed to incite conflict. Approximately 35% said his messaging was acceptable in an election year, and only 7.7% said they weren’t sure.
Along partisan lines, the results are telling.
Among Democrats:
- 70.8% said Biden’s rhetoric was acceptable.
- 18.7% said it was not acceptable.
- 10.4% said they weren’t sure
Among Republicans:
- 89.1% said Biden’s rhetoric was unacceptable.
- 4.7% said it was acceptable.
- 6.2% said they weren’t sure.
Nonaffiliated voters:
- 62.4% said Biden’s rhetoric was unacceptable.
- 31.2% said it was acceptable.
- 6.4% said they weren’t sure.
So, here is the challenge for Democrats. They spent five years beating Trump up for his rhetoric. Yet, when Democratic elected officials participated in similar or worse rhetoric, the Democratic base apparently approved of their candidates’ and elected officials’ behavior.
This is a dilemma for independent voters, or is it? Perhaps non-affiliated voters aren’t viewing current events through a partisan prism, and if so, that’s good for America.
Independents may hold the secret to restoring sanity to our politics. While the GOP is primarily right on issues, it must find a way to talk about Biden and Democratic candidates in a way that appeals to independent-minded voters. In the process, they may sway enough Democrats who disapprove of their party’s extreme shift to the left in recent years.
Here’s one other thing to consider. While Biden went on a scorched the Earth campaign, over 1 million suburban voters switched their registration from Democrats to Republicans over the last year. Polling shows independents lean toward the GOP on issues, and Hispanics are bailing on them in historic numbers.
All the GOP needs to do is allow Democrats to self-implode. Don’t take the divisive language personally. It’s all the they have right now after they’ve proven they want to take the country in a direction most Americans don’t want to go over the last 18 months.
So, while Democrats try to play Trump’s game, it’s ineffective. The very reason Democrats didn’t like Trump is the same thing they are becoming. The rhetoric is turning off more voters than it’s turning on.
It’s time for the GOP not to engage in Biden’s rhetoric but to present the facts.
The Left:
- Made a mess of the economy.
- Pushed socialist policies.
- Divided America through Critical Race Theory and transgenderism.
- Allowed criminals to run free at victims’ expense
- Opened the southern border to violent drug and human traffickers.
If Republicans expose their legislative record and rhetoric, they will overcome Biden’s harsh rhetoric.
Don Purdum, Political Analyst
Copyright 2022, ConservativeEra.com
