The Democratic Party has hit new lows – literally and figuratively.
New polling shows Democrats have a poor opinion of their own party, with not even a third believing the party has “strong leadership.” When you look at the electorate as a whole, that figure drops to a meager 16 percent. The troubling data emerged as former President Joe Biden emerged publicly for the first time since his cancer diagnosis was made public.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Emily Jashinsky, D.C. correspondent for UnHerd, and Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon, to discuss what has gone wrong for the Democrats and why Biden isn’t doing himself or the party any favors.
The Poll Numbers
A CNN survey released Sunday spells trouble for Democrats. On the topic of leadership, 40 percent of Americans believe the GOP is the party of “strong leaders” compared to a mere 16 percent saying that about Democrats.
As reported on Monday’s AM Update, other numbers were also grim. Some 36 percent of Americans view Republicans as the party that “gets things done” versus 19 percent for Democrats. Republicans are viewed as the “party of change” by 32 percent of Americans, while 25 percent said the same about Dems.
When the answers are broken down according to party, Democrats appear to be having a crisis of confidence. “This, I think, is the most fascinating: How do partisans talk about their own party? Among Democrats and Democratic-leaners, 32 percent say Democrats are the party with strong leaders,” CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian said over the weekend. “82 percent of Republicans or Republican-leaners say that about the GOP.”
“Only 41 percent of Democrats say they’re the party that gets things done… and I will just say, 51 percent… a majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaners, say neither party gets the ‘party that gets things done’ attribute,” he added. “That is the hole; that is the project that Democrats are working on.”
Political analyst Amy Walter told CNN these numbers reflect the fact that Democrats have failed to carve out an identity that resonates with voters. “I think it speaks to a bigger challenge for Democrats. They have spent the last eight years being the party that is the ‘Anti-Trump Party.’ They haven’t been the party that is the pro-fill-in-the-blank,” she explained. “So, they’ve been very much defined by Donald Trump, not defined by what they want to be.”
The terrible polling comes on the heels of a New York Times report that painted a similarly dire picture of the state of the Democrat establishment. The party is apparently sinking $20 million into a program called “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan” (code-named “SAM” for short) to “study the syntax, language, and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces.”
But it might be too little too late. Sen. Bernie Sander (I-VT) recently called Dems a “threat to democracy” and said identity politics are and will continue to be the death of the party – particularly among men.
What Went Wrong
Megyn said that while “no one is surprised” to see the polling because the Dems “have been in complete disarray,” it “doesn’t spell good news for Team Blue.” Jashinsky agreed and added that the “party that gets things done” attribute is particularly damning.
“The one thing that Joe Biden and Donald Trump and the Biden allies and the Trump allies agree on is actually that Joe Biden was able to do a lot in the short span of time,” she explained. “We had some significant, signature legislative accomplishments… They passed several massive pieces of legislation – which I would argue contributed significantly to inflation – but, nevertheless, they’re still very proud of that record.”
And yet the voters, including those within their own party, seem to have a short memory. “Everyone’s looking around and saying the Republicans are the ones that get things done. I mean, that is an incredible disaster for Democrats,” Jashinsky continued. “Because even if I disagree with them, they definitely did sh-t during the Biden administration… So, I don’t understand how you come out of those four years with these numbers.”
Biden Returns
Perhaps right on cue, Biden made an appearance at a veterans event in Delaware on Friday where he took questions from reporters. There was a moment in which he got uncomfortably close to and berated a female reporter even though she wasn’t the one who asked the question. And there was another instance in which he was asked a generic question about his health and then threatened to beat up some people – presumably, Original Sin authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
At this point, Johnson said the best thing the former president can do is make himself scarce. “It is amazing that the response of Team Biden to the allegations in the book and also to his failures on the public stage over the past four years is to continue putting it out there,” she noted. “They put Biden on The View to prebut the book, where Dr. Jill had to finish his sentences. And then he is out here… this 82 year old, frail guy who was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, saying is going to beat up the two younger men.”
“It’s pathetic,” Johnson concluded.
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Jashinsky and Johnson by tuning in to episode 1,084 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.