It sounded absurd from the start, as the Biden Administration has repeatedly downplayed supply shortages and even spun them as a good thing. Democrats are only likely to double down on it, though.
A Thursday morning email from the DNC War Room alerted readers, "NEWSFLASH: Biden's Holiday Season A Significant Improvement Over Trump's," highlighting a collection of headlines from this year and last regarding the pandemic and unemployment.
INBOX from DNC War Room: Christmas is going to be better this year under Biden than Trump despite supply chain issues, and those supply chain issues are McCarthy’s fault. pic.twitter.com/7NOccsHUuW
— Rebecca Downs (@RebeccaRoseGold) October 21, 2021
"There's a crispness in the air, the leaves are changing, and the holiday season is right around the corner. Thanks to President Biden and Democrats, this holiday season is primed to be much better than last year's under Trump, with millions more Americans employed, nearly 200 million fully vaccinated, and COVID cases and deaths dropping," the email cheerfully opens, making no indication about the effect supply chain shortages could have on the holiday season.
Mention of the shortages comes further down, and it's in the context of blaming House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) over GOP House leadership opposition to the infrastructure package, which the GOP is whipping against. After many delays, infrastructure is supposed to be voted on later this month, or at least that's what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said.
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Spencer, in a VIP opinion column, has another take, which that Biden is looking more like the Grinch this Christmas:
Even if Americans find they have enough money in their pockets to splurge on gifts for friends and family this year, they might not even be able to get them in time for the holidays. This, too, is thanks to the Biden administration’s lack of preparedness and failure to address a supply chain crisis.
As the White House scrambles (and so far fails) to handle this crisis, they’re not even pretending it’s a crisis the Biden administration has a handle on. Just this week — as Biden finally decided to host meetings with a handful of American companies being impacted by the supply delays and shortages — the White House said “there will be things that people can't get” for Christmas this season. According to Grinch Biden’s crew, “a lot of these goods are hopefully substitutable by other things.” Even as Biden announced his alleged solution to the supply chain crisis on Wednesday, Jen Psaki said the White House “cannot guarantee” that items will arrive in time.
As I covered last night in highlighting a poll released on Wednesday from the Trafalgar Group, a majority of likely general election voters have personally been affected by supply shortages, to the tune of 53.7 percent.
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) on Thursday released a memo on the Supply Chain Crisis, outlining in painstaking detail how the onus is on the Biden administration, noting "our job as Republicans is to explain to the American people what the grinches at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave did to ruin Christmas."
Reasons laid out touch upon Biden administration policies on the workforce; the Green New Deal agenda causing a rise in shipping prices; inflation; and dependency on China.
Democrats can tout what they want, all that they want. The numbers are not in President Joe Biden's favor. According to the RealClearPolitics (RCP) polling data average from September 15-October 19, Biden's approval rating for how he is handling the economy has a spread of -10.7.
Leah highlighted a Quinnipiac poll which showed 19 percent of adults see the economy as the most important issue, with it being the most pressing issue for Independents. Biden's approval rating is at 37 percent, while 52 percent disapprove. A majority of respondents say that the United States is worse off today than it was a year ago, by 52-41 percent.
Earlier today, Guy highlighted even more polls.
A Morning Consult/POLITICO poll found that by 62-38 percent, registered voters say the country is on the "wrong track" as opposed to the "right track." Biden not only is underwater in his approval ratings, with 45 percent approving compared to 52 percent who disapprove, a plurality "strongly disapprove," by 39 percent.
When asked what the most important issue was, 38 percent chose "Economic issues-like taxes, wages, jobs, unemployment, and spending," the most selected issue of any others. "Security issues-like terrorism, foreign policy, and border security" was the next highest selected, with 18 percent.
Pluralities of voters also "strongly disapprove" of how Biden is handling the economy and jobs, by 39 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Overall, voters disapprove of how Biden is handling the economy 51-41 percent and disapprove of how he is handling jobs 47-44 percent.
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