With three weeks out from the November midterms, Democrats' rose-tinted glasses are starting to come off and members of the party are coming to terms again with President Biden's low approval ratings and questions about whether their midterm messaging will be enough to push them past the finish line in key races.
Blame game: As The Hill's Alex Bolton writes, Democrats are preparing for an "I told you so" moment as members of the party express concerns over the disconnect they believe Democrats are showing over how to talk to voters and their lack of focus in some cases on issues that are not related to abortion.
Former President Obama, for example, suggested that Democrats can at times be a buzzkill, noting how members of the party can go "around scolding folks if they don't use exactly the right phrase, or that identity politics becomes the principal lens through which we view our various political challenges."
Meanwhile, progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are arguing that abortion cannot be the only issue that Democrats lean on in the midterms. Some believe Democrats actually have a compelling argument to make on economy and inflation, suggesting it's not just a Republican-preferred midterm issue.
Key quote: "When the country is at two-thirds wrong track and by most accounts Republicans are up by 15 to 20 points on the economy … we got to change that," Faiz Shakir, a Democratic strategist and senior adviser to Sanders, told Alex. "We got to at least make the compelling economic argument about what [Republicans] want to do to Social Security, what they want to do to Medicare, what they want to do to student debt relief and prescription drug costs."
The president question: While Democrats are trying to navigate the last three weeks of the midterms, The Hill's Amie Parnes also notes this morning that the party is again grappling with Biden's low approval ratings and the fact that the president is being seen as a drag in key midterm races amid concerns over high inflation and a possible recession.
Consider a recent New York Times/Siena College poll out this week, which showed 58 percent saying they disapproved of Biden's job as president compared to 39 percent who approved. It also showed close to two-thirds of likely voters who believed the country was on the wrong track (64 percent), compared to 24 percent who said they were on the right track. And 49 percent of respondents said they were more likely to vote in their district for the Republican candidate if the election was held today, compared to 45 percent who said the same for Democrats.
Some strategists suggest, however, that voters might be differentiating Democratic candidates in key battleground races and Biden.
"What's been interesting this cycle is watching candidates like Fetterman and Warnock in strong positions while Biden's numbers have dragged," Democratic strategist Christy Setzer told Amie.
"It seems like voters were already mentally divorcing Biden's performance from that of Democratic Senate and House candidates, which means he's not and hasn't been a drag, but he's also not helping bolster poll numbers for the Mandela Barnes of the world."
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