At every turn, they have underestimated him, sold him short, expected the worst. And at every turn, he has outperformed all expectations.
People seem to be unaware that there have been times that the experience and wisdom of octogenarians has been crucially important to the survival and rebuilding of nations, advising presidents until he was 94.
...people are stepping up into better jobs while complaining about how bad Biden is.
I've posted pieces which extol Biden's accomplishments and I've posted pieces which draw attention to the rather odd disconnect between these accomplishments and his low approval rating.
I've never posted an article which attacks him personally or discounts his achievements. I've defended him from attacks on this site which come from the left flank of the Democratic party and the know-it-alls on the twitterverse. I'll match my record of support with that of anyone else.
Now, as the election nears, it's entirely appropriate to take some notice of the weakness of his candidacy with the public at large based on respected polls. If X-per cent of Democrats polled are lukewarm about him and say he's too old are we supposed to bury our heads in the sand?
However, if there's a third party challenge, if there's a recession, if Ukraine suffers a devastating defeat – these sort of things aren't under Biden's control but he will be blamed for them. And in that case Biden's lack of star power may hurt him. I don't know if this will happen. I don't know if it won't happen.
Quote:...people are stepping up into better jobs while complaining about how bad Biden is.
Exactly. So what does that tell you?
It tells me the rank and file are stupid and easily led. What's it tell you?
Because there are always a gaggle of people prognosticating a dozen scenarios of doom for Biden.
You feeling defensive?
I swear I almost believe that regarding Joe Biden, democrats on this site and off suffer some kind of selective blindness or partial amnesia, or some kind of compartmental insanity, or SOMETHING.
Sure sounds like you’re defending yourself.
You say “it’s entirely appropriate” to take notice of and make comment about the weak polling.
Why is watching opinion polls so goddam important to you?
But what’s your excuse?
Again, do you want Joe Biden to survive and succeed?
But when I ask why you pay so much attention to that mindless “this is what the dumb and gullible people think” narrative, you say… what?
1) That you’re not pointing out the polls themselves, you’re pointing out that reporters are pointing out the polls? And,
2) You do this because this is simply what’s done during presidential election cycles?
In an April poll, of the 70 percent of Americans who said Biden shouldn’t run again, 69 percent said it’s because of his old age.
And a Washington nonprofit, No Labels, is gearing up for a third-party run with a platform that threatens to leach support from a Democratic candidate who is saddled with a favorable rating of a limp 41 percent.
A lot of your reasoning seemed to come from your reading of polls.
(...)
Confronted with the sense that the polls "failed" in 2016 and 2020 - and that the polls in 2020 failed to accurate measure the support for Republicans --- does this mean that public opinion is unknowable from public opinion polls? Or, perhaps even worse, that the polls are inherently skewed against Republicans?
The poor performance of pre-election polls in 2020 was consequential and unfortunate, but it does not necessarily impugn the accuracy of all public opinion polling. Pre-election polling is different from, and more difficult than, public opinion polling that seeks to gauge the opinions of citizens in a state (our country). In fact, some prominent polling organizations, such as Gallup, has put aside pre-election polling to focus exclusively on public opinion polling.
Pre-election polls must figure out two things. First, who is going to vote, and second, who those voters will vote for. A mistake in either will create polling errors and both are unknowable . In 2016, for example, not only was the higher turnout in Republican (rural) areas relative to Democratic (urban) areas unexpected by pre-election pollsters, but so too was the extent to which late-deciding voters would support President Trump. While a pre-election poll with too few Republicans is obviously unlikely to correctly predict the outcome of an election, an unavoidable issue with pre-election polling is that we can never be sure of how many Republicans is too few (or too many) until well after the actual election. Pre-election polls must inevitably make very consequential decisions about what they think the electorate is going to be without any way of knowing whether those decisions are correct.
These decisions matter because the people who answer surveys nowadays are often not a random sample of the electorate. Because the average respondent is older, more educated, whiter, and more female than the average voter, pollsters must make statistical adjustments to ensure that the pool of respondents better resemble the population of interest. For pre-election polls, this means making an educated guess about who is going to vote and what that implies about the composition of the electorate - a guess that can always be wrong.
(...)
To the Editor:
Re “The Presidential Rematch Nobody Wants,” by Pamela Paul (column, July 21):
Ms. Paul asks, “Have you met anyone truly excited about Joe Biden running for re-election?”
I am wildly enthusiastic about President Biden, who is the best president in my lifetime. His legislation to repair America’s infrastructure and bring back chip manufacturing are both huge accomplishments. Mr. Biden has done more to combat climate change, the existential issue of the day, than all the presidents who have gone before him.
Mr. Biden extracted us from the endless morass of Afghanistan. He has marshaled the free peoples of the world to stop the Russian takeover of Ukraine, giving dictators around the world pause.
Mr. Biden is the first president in a generation to really believe in unions and to emphasize the issues of working people, understanding how much jobs matter.
I might wish he were 20 years younger. I wish I were 20 years younger.
Most important, Joe Biden is an honorable man at a time when his biggest rivals do not know the meaning of the word. Being honorable is the essential virtue, without which youth or glibness do not matter.
I support his re-election with all my heart and soul.
Gregg Coodley
Portland, Ore.
************
To the Editor:
We endured (barely) four years of Donald Trump. Now we have Joe Biden, whose time has come and gone, and third party disrupters who know they cannot win but are looking for publicity.
Mr. Biden had his turn, and is exceedingly arrogant to believe that he is our best hope. His good sense and moral values won’t help if Donald Trump wins against him, which is eminently possible. The Democratic Party must nominate a powerfully charismatic candidate.
Mitchell Zuckerman
New Hope, Pa.
************
To the Editor:
I think Pamela Paul misses the point entirely. No, Biden supporters are not jumping up and down in a crazed frenzy like Trump supporters. That is actually a good thing. People like me who fully support President Biden’s re-election are sick and tired of the nonstop insanity that is Donald Trump. I’m very happy to have a sound, calm, upstanding president who actually gets things done for middle- and working-class Americans.
Excitement isn’t the answer to solving America’s problems. A president who gets things done is — like Joe Biden!
Sue Everett
Chattanooga, Tenn.
************
To the Editor:
Pamela Paul is spot on in her diagnosis of the depressing likelihood of Trump vs. Biden, Round 2.
The solution is money, as is true in all things in American politics. The Big Money donors in the Democratic Party should have a conference call with Team Biden and tell it, flat out, we’re not supporting the president’s re-election. It’s time for a younger generation of leaders.
Without their money, President Biden would realize that he cannot run a competitive campaign. But in a strange echo of how Republican leaders genuflect to Donald Trump and don’t confront him, the wealthy contributors to the Democratic Party do exactly the same with Mr. Biden.
Ethan Podell
Rutherford Island, Maine
***********
To the Editor:
In an ideal world, few would want a presidential rematch. Donald Trump is a menace, and it would be nice to have a Democratic nominee who is young, charismatic and exciting. But in the real world, I favor a Trump-Biden rematch, if Mr. Trump is the Republican nominee.
Mr. Biden might shuffle like a senior, and mumble his words, but he is a decent man who loves our country and has delivered beyond expectations.
In leadership crises, Americans yearn for shiny new saviors riding into town on a stallion. I prefer an honest old shoe whom we can count on to get us through an election of a lifetime.
Jerome T. Murphy
Cambridge, Mass.
The writer is a retired Harvard professor and dean who taught courses on leadership.
*************
To the Editor:
I am grateful to Pamela Paul for articulating and encapsulating how I, and probably many others, feel about the impending 2024 presidential race. I appreciate the stability that President Biden returned to the White House and our national politics. However, the future demands so much more than Mr. Biden or any other announced candidate can deliver.
Christine Cunha
Bolinas, Calif.
**************
To the Editor:
Pamela Paul presents many reasons, in her view, why President Biden is a flawed candidate, including that Mr. Biden’s “old age is showing.” As an example, she writes that during an interview on MSNBC he appeared to wander off the set.
Fox News has been pushing this phony notion relentlessly, claiming that he walked off while the host was still talking. In fact, the interview was over, Mr. Biden shook hands with the host, they both said goodbye, and while Mr. Biden left the set, the host faced the camera and announced what was coming up next on her show.
Howard Ehrlichman
Huntington, N.Y.
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