March 12, 2024 - 4:00pm
Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech won rave reviews throughout the media, yet it seems to have had no positive impact on voters.
The President’s approval rating in a poll from 8-9 March was 33%, unchanged since November, while his disapproval rate rose by four percentage points in that time, according to polling from Ipsos.
Voters’ approval of Biden has risen a few points on issues voters care most about, such as inflation and immigration, as well as gun violence, climate change and abortion. But on the war between Israel and Hamas, the President’s approval fell by 11 points.
Biden’s energetic performance at Thursday’s SOTU was praised as a refutation of his old-age problem. It received glowing reviews from New York Times columnists who rated the speech “fire-breathing”, “unexpectedly rousing” and “feisty”, while Politico called it “the turn-the-tables SOTU”, and more than a dozen outlets called the speech “fiery” in headlines.
The optimism extended to Democratic donors as well, with Biden seeing his two best fundraising hours of the entire race after his speech.
In reality, the electorate was more likely to have missed the SOTU altogether than to have believed Biden outperformed expectations. Ipsos found that 29% of Americans thought Biden performed better than expected, 12% said worse, 24% said he matched their expectations, and a full 35% didn’t watch, hear or read about it.
The breakdown of SOTU reactions was predictably partisan, with Democrats over 65 most likely to say he exceeded expectations versus only 13% of Republicans. If Biden is exceeding expectations, it’s primarily among people who likely would have voted for him regardless of his SOTU performance.
Even among liberals, Biden’s speech was not without critique. Fellow Democrats criticised his use of the term “illegal” to refer to the man accused of killing Georgia college student Laken Riley, as well as his reluctance to use the word “abortion”. Multiple Democratic members of Congress also held signs during the speech demanding an end to US support for Israel in the Gaza war.
Trump, for his part, has an even lower approval rating: 29%, which hasn’t changed since November. Meanwhile, his disapproval rate has fallen by a single point. If Biden is to win an edge over his Republican rival, he will need more than one “fiery” speech.
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SubscribeI didn’t watch the address, but from all reports he didn’t fall asleep in the middle of it. I think it’s fair to say that’s a win for Biden.
I watched the speech, and Joe Biden seemed like he was on a drug of some sort. Maybe it was a natural high, but before, during and after his speech he seemed to deliver an unnatural performance.
I don’t think he’s senile, but I do think he’s too old to be in a demanding job. He delivered a speech all right, but on the US southern border, on Gaza, and on Ukraine he’s missing in action.
If Joe Biden is this bad now, imagine how he’ll be in four years. If elected he would be the proverbial lame duck. We might as well not have a president if he remains in office.
I am expecting great scientific advances to come out of Biden’s presidency. He seems to get pumped with drugs that temporarily help his muddled mind before he relapses as they wear off. Hopefully they will be released onto the market once he is safely out of office.
It was pretty funny to read what happened after the speech was over. Joe Biden wouldn’t leave. He had a microphone on as he was talking to people, and he started talking about Gaza with his secretary of state and a senator. His bodyguard had to tell him to shut up.
A House staffer finally turned off some of the lights and the speaker of the House gaveled the session closed. Joe Biden took the hint and moved into the hallway, but he still dawdled there and back at the White House, talking to people until there was no one left to talk to. The report was that he didn’t go to bed until 3 am.
Maybe you are right, that he was on a new drug. A political Viagra that lets an aging politician get it up for a night of frolic in the halls of power. The next day Joe Biden was full of his usual mumbles and gaffes. So it didn’t last.
I watched much of it. He mumbled and slurred sentences almost at the top of his lungs – like a senile old man yelling at kids to get out of his yard. He insulted (quasi threatened) the Supreme Court Justices who were present, mispronounced the name of the college girl who was brutally raped, beaten and murdered by a two time deported illegal alien, and hollered a lot about Trump.
He didn’t fall asleep, but I did.
But a massive loss for the Democrats. They’re stuck with him now – all the way to November, by which time he probably won’t even be able to read the autocue.
“Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech won rave reviews throughout the media”
That’s the only thing one needs to read while erupting into a healthy guffaw.
Most legacy media used the term ‘fiery’ to describe Biden’s speech. I didn’t see it but figured that if it was really good the media wouldn’t feel the need to tell us that it was at every opportunity.
Has Trump ever given a fiery speech?
No, but he’s given several inflammatory ones. They mean the same thing!
Thankfully he has now issued an apology to the murderer of Laken Riley for calling him an illegal immigrant in the SOTU speech. He may have bludgeoned a 22 year old nursing student to death but he deserves to be shown a little respect and called an Undocumented Worker. After all, Sleepy Joe rolled out the red-carpet to get him and his friends into the country.
These two things cannot both be true:
1 – Biden is too old and senile to prosecute for indisputable violations of laws on handling classified materials (for which he is prosecuting his 2024 Presidential rival in Banana Republic fashion)
2 – Biden is dynamic, focused, and up for being President
The average American voter may not have had his or her mind changed by the speech, though that’s always hard to tell. Perceptions tend to build over time, not from seismic shocks.
But Joe Biden’s performance did choke off the grumbling in the Democrat elite that he’s too old. That was evident during and right after the speech in the House chamber itself, and in the liberal press since. The grumblers have been chastised back into paying obeisance.
The crowing of Republicans at having portrayed Joe Biden as senile has also been choked off. He’s not senile. That was made clear by the speech. And the statements by special counsel Robert Hur that said he was an elderly man with a poor memory have been somewhat weakened as well, as the just released transcripts of his interviews don’t make that case.
It is hard to be objective about these things. Indeed, it’s impossible. And I can’t provide any solid proof of my view that Joe Biden is on the border between being a mediocre president and an incompetent one.
But I am glad to see this issue of age getting aired out. With all the hyperbole both sides sling, a grounding in the real world is welcome.
One headline today, which was not in the speech, is Biden reportedly getting 8 million dollars for a book deal.
Not bad!
Ukrainian publishing company perchance?
The utterly unhinged reaction from the conservative media is very, very funny to watch. You could see their Biden narrative being dismantled in real time. I see the new narrative is that the president was on drugs because there is no way he could have been so effective otherwise. Please…
The best the republicans could come up with was a completely unhinged Marjorie Taylor Greene doing her MAGA stuff – embarrassing – and the very weird rebuttal from the senator from Alabama.
Biden in another landslide.
I feel dumber whenever I read one of your comments. If I could filter you out of the far cleverer people here, I would do so. Playground taunts and mudslinging do not a sound, reasoned argument make, nor do they come from an intelligent mind, friend.
I’m sure feeling dumb is a common sensation for you.
No doubt you think that Katie Britt’s rebuttal was a fine piece of oratory and that Taylor Greene is a thoughtful and intelligent commentator.
Keep on feeling dumb, sonny, it suits you.
Oh, dear. In your answer, you proved my point. Arguing isn’t something you do well. Hurling insults is more your thing. I take no pleasure in pointing this out, by the way.
I just read your exchange with the champagne glass. You did walk into the shards, starting out by saying you feel ‘dumber’ (perhaps ‘number’ would have been better). You filter it out by not engaging, by giving it no energy, by shading you eyes and cloaking your spirit. It wants attention. I have a dog for that kind of relationship.
True, yes, but a forest fire is extinguished either by pouring water on it or by digging a firebreak. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, you know!
Why do the far right only care about victims if the perpetrator is part of a group they want to smear? Why don’t we see the likes of the grotesque Marjorie Taylor Greene handing out pins with the names of people killed in mass shootings or victims of police racism?
I think we all know why, don’t we?
You do know who carries out the majority of mass shootings, which tend to be drive-by shootups or shooting up a funeral?
Or the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs parade?
Any why doesn’t Greene care about those victims?
I think we all know why, don’t we?
I, like most red-blooded Americans, did not watch the State of the Union; I have better things to do with my time than listen to the demented ranting of a decrepit old geezer. Important things, like…reviving the lost art of scrimshaw. Touring the nation’s covered bridges. Cataloguing my collection of dead bluebottles. Many, many more important things.
4 years of Biden:
War between Afghanistan / Taliban
War between Ukraine / Russia
War between Israel / Hamas
War between Haiti / Criminal Gangs
4 Years of Trump:
No Wars
Which do you prefer?
Biden was well trained by his handlers who wrote the speech. He was probably run through weeks of practice. He probably did not know a word of the teleprompter ideas he was trained to speak.
It was a solid performance for a man who has a rough time giving speeches. He was also able to take advantage of the Republican’s transformation from the party of decorum into a frothing mob of anger and incivility. Rather than getting tripped up he seemed to have fun baiting them. I thought he did very well indeed.
Who’s angry, John? When Democrats lose their temper and yell, you call it a ‘fiery’ or ‘feisty’ speech. When Republicans do likewise, they are ‘being angry’ and ‘losing their temper’. Let your ears hear the words of your mouth …..