Democrats are freaking out about the wrong polls.
.jpg)
It's been a season of ugly polling for President Joe Biden, no doubt about it. A recent NBC poll found Biden's approval rating at the lowest level of his presidency, with a majority of voters holding "negative" feelings toward him.
Only a quarter of American voters want Biden to run for reelection, according to a mid-November poll conducted by The Economist/YouGov. And then there's that much-discussed NYT/Siena College Poll showing former President Donald Trump leading Biden in five of six key battleground states, which generated so many screaming headlines and distracted Democratic operatives.
But it's important not to lose the signal through the noise here. Horse race polls, approval ratings and other candidate-centered indicators a full year out from the 2024 election aren't something Democrats need to set their hair on fire over — at least not yet.
Instead, what should be causing a considerable sense of panicked urgency is what voters have been telling pollsters about economic issues.
I'm the director of the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College. We conduct the Goucher College Poll, which measures opinions on political and policy issues in Maryland. And I've seen how focused messaging on cost-of-living issues can drive broader economic attitudes and win elections — even in the most challenging electoral environments.