“This version of Joe Biden could beat Donald Trump,” the first line of a CNN commentary read, the day after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
“And in the most important moment of the 2024 election campaign so far, Biden appeared to succeed,” the columnist Stephen Collinson rejoiced. “He projected vigor and forcefulness. His voice, which has seemed reedy at times, was sonorant …”
“Biden was a trenchant master of the chamber of the House of Representatives, effectively wielding the theatrics of the presidency and commanding an hour of unfiltered primetime television.”
Other pundits on CNN and MSNBC echoed similar sentiments, each seeming to vie for more venerative ways to describe the aging president’s performance.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough after the SOTU: “I’ve known him a long time…this is the best Joe Biden.” 🤡 pic.twitter.com/aczCT6SPAu
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) March 8, 2024
CNN’s Dana Bash claims Biden “met the moment” for his party during his SOTU address: “They wanted him to be a fighter and boy fight did he deliver.”
She’s still fuming over MTG wearing the MAGA hat. pic.twitter.com/pYvCzAJyeW— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 8, 2024
Collinson and the other Biden sycophants may have finally stopped holding their collective breaths after Biden made it through the speech without falling down or forgetting the name of a major world leader — although he did butcher the name of murdered Georgia student Laken Riley — but the rest of the American people do not seem to have taken much notice.
Will Trump win in November by more than he won in 2016?
Biden’s widely praised State of the Union address appears to have had little impact on his standing with American voters, according to new Yahoo News/YouGov and FiveThirty Eight polls conducted in the days after his speech. Instead of the typical minor surge of support presidents often see after a nationally televised speech to Congress, Biden has seen his numbers stall or even tick downward in some polls.
Yahoo News/YouGov poll: No State of the Union bump for Biden. The speech earned rave reviews from his supporters.
During the evening of the State of the Union, #JoeBiden instead presented a divisive #Campaign Speech. He spoke only to his supporters.https://t.co/FHqbbREAx2
— Joseph Angelo (@Beachdudeca) March 13, 2024
Biden has seen no State of the Union poll bump yet. In fact, today’s updated approval rating average is a new all-time lowhttps://t.co/hBrpbNmo7Q pic.twitter.com/kDP2Fc4xjK
— G Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris) March 12, 2024
The Yahoo News/YouGov survey of 1,482 U.S. adults found no improvement in Biden’s job approval rating or in his positioning against former President Donald Trump. Before the speech, Biden trailed Trump by one point among registered voters, 44 percent to Trump’s 45 percent. The new poll shows little change, with Trump at 46 percent and Biden at 44 percent.
Biden’s speech also did nothing to address persistent concerns about his age and stamina. Just 29 percent said Biden is fit for another term, unchanged from January. A majority of 51 percent still view his age as a “big problem” affecting his fitness for office.
Among Democrats, there were few signs of an enthusiasm boost either. Democratic approval of Biden and views of him as the best nominee both declined slightly from the previous poll in January. Doubts about Biden’s electability also ticked up, with just 65 percent of Democrats now saying he has the best chance of winning in November compared to 76 percent earlier.
The poll found the public was split down the middle in evaluating the speech, even though slightly more Democrats viewed the address than Republicans. Among those who watched or followed the speech, equal shares approved and disapproved of the address. The same divide was seen in whether they agreed with what Biden said.
With the exception of abortion, on most of the specific issues like inflation, immigration and the economy, those exposed to the speech mostly disagreed with Biden’s statements – suggesting his rhetoric did little to sway opinions.
Rather than attempt to bring the country together with an uplifting speech and a vision for overcoming our numerous challenges, Biden instead opted for a crass political diatribe, lobbing partisan bombs.
It turns out, despite what the pundits at Biden-boosting networks like CNN and MSNBC may think, screaming about your opponent for half of your speech and worrying about other nations rather than your own for a good part of the other half is not the recipe for success.
Also, there’s a difference between looking strong and looking amped-up and frenzied.
Biden’s frenetic, primetime rant last week only served as a contrast to how he normally behaves.
Biden incoherently mumbles when asked about ‘Illegal’ comment from the State of the Union.
Those drugs from last night really wore off… pic.twitter.com/rfIeBc8lqj
— TP Breaking Alerts (@tpbreaking) March 8, 2024
When drugs wore off….
BIDEN v. TELEPROPTER: “We added more to the national debt than any president in his term in all of history!”
— 🇺🇸 Pismo 🇺🇸 (@Pismo_B) March 9, 2024
One day later, he was back to the incoherent, confused man we all have come to recognize as president of the United States.
The pundits may not be able to tell the difference, but clearly, the American people can.
