Mr. Biden, if you want to continue as president, take a lesson from Mr. Fetterman
About four years ago, Bernie Sanders threw in the towel on his presidential campaign, making Joe Biden the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. After stumbles in more liberal, early-primary states, Biden dominated in South Carolina and stormed through Super Tuesday, racking up wins and staging an incredible political comeback.
The pundits and the polling agreed that it was his moderate persona and policies that appealed to Democratic primary voters and eventually to most Americans. It’s astonishing that he is now turning away from the path that brought him to the White House. He needs to learn from John Fetterman.
Underwater approval
With approval ratings underwater by anywhere from 16 to 30 points — depending on which poll you like — and recent Wall Street Journal research showing him trailing Trump in six of the seven battleground states, Biden must come back to the center, if not for the sake of holding the White House, then for the sake of down ballot Democrats.
According to Gallup, a record low 27% of Americans identify as Democrats, tying the percentage who identify as Republicans. Yet a record high 43% identify as Independents. Among Independents, slightly more lean toward the Republicans, giving them an edge overall. This is not the norm. The report observes, “In most years, there have been more Democrats and Democratic leaners than Republicans and Republican leaners.”
Ideologically, the picture is
even more stark. The same polling showed only 25% of Americans describe their politics as “liberal,” while 36% are “conservative,” and another 36% consider themselves “moderate.”
In 2020, The Wall Street Journal editorial board observed, “The former Vice President is running as a reassuring moderate, a man of good character who can reunite the country. ... Yet he also is running on the most leftwing policy program in decades.” However, the media didn’t report on these policies and most Americans weren’t aware of them. Now they can’t be missed.
For example, in an apparent attempt to court a small slice of voters in Michigan, Biden is moving away from the traditional Democratic support for Israel. After standing in solidarity with Israel after the October 7 Hamas massacre, the administration has begun to back away.
Learning from Fetterman
Michigan is one of those swing states where the president trails Mr. Trump. But so is Pennsylvania, where he can learn from Senator John Fetterman.
Since October 7, Fetterman, who has been an outspoken supporter of Israel, has gained in popularity.
A Quinnipiac poll shows that 26% of voters think more favorably of him because of this stance while only 14% think less favorably of him. And importantly, he has higher approval ratings in the Keystone State than Biden among total voters and the all- important Independents.
Biden should apply this lesson to healthcare, especially with research showing it a top issue for voters, second only to inflation and prices. Here, too, the Biden administration is straying from the center.
This month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cut funding for the most popular way that seniors access medical care, through Medicare Advantage (MA). A majority of eligible seniors choose to get their Medicare benefits through MA, a public-private partnership.
The program has been growing in popularity every year and is now chosen by almost 33 million Americans. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that in ten years, 62% of eligible Americans will be enrolled in MA.
And they tend to be part of the Democratic coalition. According to the research, “Medicare Advantage enrollees were more likely to be Black or Hispanic, have incomes below $20,000 per person, live in urban areas, and have lower levels of education.”
These cuts are bad policy, but politically, cutting funding to this program makes no sense, especially since a majority of seniors in all seven of the critical swing states choose MA, and seniors vote at the highest rate of any age cohort.
The most progressive voices in the Democratic Party, like Pramila Jayapal and Bernie Sanders, oppose this popular program, but they are not frontline members of Congress who can make the difference in taking back the House and increasing the Democrats’ majority in the Senate. Following their lead will only hurt Democratic candidates in November.
Hurting the party’s chances
Today, when America is so evenly divided and only a few voters in a few states make all the difference, pursuing policies that are out of the mainstream will hurt the President’s chances of reelection and put Democratic House and Senate candidates in difficult to defend positions.
Republicans know this and they’ll try to capitalize on it. But there’s still time for the administration to pull back to the center on policy, and to set Democrats back on the road to political victory.