The Incredibly Shrinking Joe Biden

President Joe Biden was never a colossus of intellect, statesmanship, or wisdom, from his decades in the U.S. Senate, moving to the vice-presidency, and now the Oval Office. His predecessor and teammate for eight years, President Barack Obama famously noted, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.”

Biden is in his second year of his aspirational four-year term, hoping to make it a full four years in office, and Obama’s words are playing out prophetically. On the domestic front, we have rising inflation and unemployment, which is causing economists to dust off the misery index, a relic of the Jimmy Carter presidency. Our southern border is wide open and crime, particularly in big cities, is on the rise. Despite promises to “beat COVID," more Americans died of COVID in 2021, during Biden’s presidency, compared to 2020 when Trump was in the White House.

America surrendered Afghanistan to the Taliban and China, leaving Americans and billions of dollars of weapons behind. Biden is wishy-washy on Ukraine, leaving the Russian bear ready to gobble up territory or fracture NATO. America is in an internal civil war between not only races, genders, and skin colors, but now also the vaccinated versus unvaccinated, and all things COVID, destroying friendships and families over dubious science.

Biden’s second year as President is rolling down the hill and picking up speed, heading for the edge of the cliff. However, it won’t be just Joe falling into the abyss, but the entire country and much of the world, given the importance of the office of President of the United States.

Don’t take my word for it, instead ask the American people what they think of the state of the union in Biden’s second year. Rasmussen Reports does just that in their myriad opinion polls, typically surveying likely voters who are the ones capable of engineering a course correction at election time, rather than surveying whoever answers the phone, gets their news from Snapchat, and has little interest in America’s current status or future.

Start with Rasmussen Reports’ Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, comparing the total approval of Presidents Trump and Biden at identical points in their respective presidencies. On February 8, Biden’s total approval was 41% compared to Trump exactly four years earlier at 48%, a significant 7-point difference. Biden generally polled better than Trump until late summer 2021, the time of the Afghanistan debacle, when buyer’s remorse began setting in for many Biden voters.

Approval can be relative and influenced by other factors. Four years ago, when Trump was president, things were definitely better. COVID didn’t exist, the economy was humming along, and Trump was keeping our foreign adversaries, from Russia and China to North Korea and Iran, in check. By comparison, Biden is trying to be an anti-Trump president, doing the opposite of Trump, regardless of consequences. This is also called cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Another way to assess Biden’s second year as president is to ask if the country is heading in the right or wrong direction. Rasmussen Reports asked that question just days ago. By an almost two to one margin, likely voters believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction, 64% wrong versus 30% right direction.

Like a movie you might turn off after the first twenty minutes, voters have turned off the Biden presidency after only one year, based on a Rasmussen Reports survey seeking opinions on the best and worst presidents in recent history. Voters have already settled on an answer, only a quarter of the way through Biden’s first term. They found, “54% of Likely U.S. voters think Biden will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in American history. Only 15% believe Biden will rank in history as one of America’s best presidents.”

How many of those 15% are members of teachers’ unions or the Washington DC press corps? We know which group Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) falls into. He recently told a CNN host, who is also likely in that 15% that think Biden is the “cat’s pajamas” of presidents, that “Trump was the worst president the United States of America ever had.”

Talk about being out of touch with constituents and with America! It is no wonder Kinzinger has chosen to not run for reelection, instead perhaps hoping for a gig at CNN or MSNBC, an echo chamber where he will feel far more comfortable.

Trump scored significantly better than Biden in the best and worst presidents survey, “41% think Trump will be remembered as one of America’s best presidents, compared to 43% who believe Trump will rank as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.” This an even split between best and worst for Trump whereas Biden was viewed as worst by an almost four to one margin.

Another Rasmussen Reports survey sums this all up, finding 60% of Americans believing that Biden’s first year was somewhat or very unsuccessful, 50% in the latter category.

Who should we listen to? A Trump hating Republican Congressman and  the corporate media? Or Americans with common sense and judgement, as reflected in these recent opinion polls?

President Biden had a bad first year as president and that was his high point. Expect things to continue to slide downhill, dragging the rest of the country into a socioeconomic abyss that will be difficult for America to climb out of.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. On Twitter as @retinaldoctor.