Ridin' With Biden, Con't

Americans are convinced that the economy is in the dumpster and on fire, even though it's far better than this time a year ago, and they are Very Angry At Daddy Biden™ for not fixing it faster.

Reeling from Republican wins in elections earlier this month, Democrats are pounding the pavement ahead of next year's midterm elections.

But President Joe Biden's success passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill is bumping up against the facts that the country's inflation rate has reached a 30-year high and Americans increasingly feel the economy is in trouble.

A new ABC News / Washington Post poll found that 70% say the economy is in bad shape, a 12-point increase since last spring. More than half of those polled -- 55% -- disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy while 39% say they approve. But that approval number has plummeted six points since September and 13 points since the spring.

While only 50% blame Biden directly for inflation -- which has now reached a 6.2% increase compared with the same period last year, 3% of Democrats say the economy is excellent, 47% say it's good, 35% say it's not so good and 14% say it's poor.

In a series of ABC News follow-up interviews with poll respondents who were Biden voters but expressed disappointment with the state of the economy, people expressed a range of views about what they think went wrong and who is to blame.

Judith Steele, a registered Democrat from California, told ABC News she feels the Biden administration did a bad job in preparing for economic woes faced by certain Americans.

"His administration has been behind the curve in anticipating how bad this was going to get for lower- and middle-class families -- that they tend to take a 'wait and see approach,' or, 'this is going to pass,' and then it's too late," Steele, who plans to switch her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, said in an interview.

Steele assigns some of the blame for the poorly-performing economy to legislative squabbles in Congress.

"They should have gotten the infrastructure bill done months ago. They had the votes to do it. But they had to push. I do like the second bill, but they should have gotten the first one passed and signed, and started putting people back to work at decent union jobs," she said. "I don't know what they're ever going to get done with this. And they're always consumed with investigations and committee work and not getting anything done."

Although Biden's overall approval rating reached a new low (41%) in a new ABC/ Washington Post poll, his legislative plans have majority approval among respondents, with 63% support for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress and 58% support for the now nearly $2 trillion social spending bill still under debate.

 

So Biden signs bill into law that has the programs and policies you wanted, your response is "Screw the Democrats, I'm an independent now!" 

Sadly, assholes like Ms. Steele here vote too. Not going to matter much in California, but there you are.

But in other states, Biden is being openly trolled by Republicans who have a higher approval rating than he does, and they're having fun doing it.

 

Florida’s special legislative session can be summed up in one phrase: What Gov. Ron DeSantis wants, he gets.

DeSantis called the special session in October to fight the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandates and after just three days the Florida House and Senate approved four bills that undermine President Joe Biden’s vaccine push.

DeSantis never made an appearance during the special legislative session in Tallahassee but used his huge political sway over the Republican-dominated Legislature to get his bills passed.

One measure gives workers exemptions if they don’t want to get the shot and includes a provision fining small businesses $10,000 and larger companies $50,000 for firing workers who don’t want the vaccine.

“The governor can do anything he wants to do,” state Rep. Ardian Zika (R-Land O’ Lakes) said this week. He spoke on the House floor while Democrats grilled him over a measure giving the governor $1 million to study the state withdrawing from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which wrote the Biden administration’s plan to mandate vaccines for large businesses.

Lawmakers also approved a bill barring the state surgeon general from mandating vaccines during a health emergency and another that keeps hidden from the public complaints filed by employees who weren’t given vaccine exemptions.

DeSantis, though, never commented on the process or publicly stepped foot in the Capitol. The governor is widely popular with Republicans across the country and has an increasingly large platform as he prepares for reelection and a potential 2024 White House bid. As a result, Republicans in the state Legislature both do not want to cross DeSantis for fear it could hurt their own political futures, but also don’t want to do anything to sap momentum from his political ascent.

“Ultimately this is about power, right?” said state Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa). “This entire special session was a power play on the governor, so it does not behoove the legislative leadership, who seems to be in lockstep with this governor, to speak out in a way that would be contrary to him.”

It was a common line of attack from Democrats who were outnumbered and could do very little to slow passage of the bills. Democrats also noted that the Republican-led Legislature previously would fight GOP governors’ legislative priorities, including during the tenure of former Gov. Rick Scott.

“I’ve seen this room where the governor calls for something and we bat it down vociferously. ... We are now not seeing that,” said state Rep. Nicholas Duran (D-Miami) during a lengthy floor session speech. “We are cheapening the reason for a special session.”

So at this point, Florida businesses, and businesses in several other red states, will face fines if they don't vaccinate employees under federal law, and fines if they do vaccinate employees under state law. The Supreme Court siding with DeSantis and blowing a hole in the country as we know it may actually be the Dems' best chance in 2022.