The latest poll, produced by Langer Research for ABC News and the Washington Post, reveals what other more balanced polls have been reporting:
The Democratic Party’s difficulties are deep; they include economic discontent, a president who’s fallen 12 percentage points under water in job approval, and a broad sense that the party is out of touch with the concerns of most Americans: 62 percent say so.
Langer is no friend of conservatives. It boasts a long list of “research partners” supporting its work, including ABC News, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Bloomberg L.P., Cornell University, ESPN, and Facebook, among others. To have Langer Research declare that its most recent poll results present a “profound challenge” to the Democrats reveals the party’s accelerating race to irrelevancy in politics.
For once, the numbers coming from Langer and ABC News/Washington Post are believable:
- 31 percent of registered voters surveyed say Biden is keeping most of his campaign promises;
- 35 percent think he’s accomplished much overall;
- 59 percent worry he’ll do too much to increase the size and role of government, up 6 points since spring;
- 70 percent say [the economy] is in bad shape, up from 58 percent last spring;
- His approval for handling the economy overall is down to 39 percent, off 6 points just since early September and 13 points from last spring.
His job approval has fallen off the charts:
In terms of Biden’s job performance overall, a new low of 41 percent approve, while 53 disapprove.… Biden [has] lost 11 points in approval since spring.
These dismal and accelerating numbers flow over to the midterms:
58 percent of all adults (and 59 percent of registered voters) are inclined to look around for someone new to vote for … [they] currently favor Republican over Democratic candidates by 20 points.
Langer sought clarity for the Senate races as well. It focused on eight states where Senate seats are open in November — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — and learned that “Biden’s overall job approval rating [among them] is 33 percent, compared with 43 percent elsewhere. On his handling of the pandemic, his approval is 11 points lower [there] than in the rest of the country.”
The bad news for Democrats affected every group and demographic, according to Langer, especially including independents:
Independents, often swing voters in national elections, favor GOP candidates by 50-32 percent; they voted +12 point Democratic in 2018.
Suburban voters now favor Republicans by 54-39 percent while rural voters support Republicans by 66-26 percent. And the advantage Democrats had in 2018 over Republicans among urban voters (65-32), is down 13 percentage points, to 52-38.
Among non-college educated white men and women, Republicans now hold an advantage over Democrats that is 20 percent wider than it was in 2018. Among Hispanics, who voted Democratic in 2018 by a 40-point margin, now favor Democrats by just 15 points — a collapse of a jaw-dropping 25 percent.
Langer summed up the results:
Republican congressional candidates [now] hold their largest lead in midterm election vote preferences [51 percent to 41 percent] … dating back 40 years.
For the record, in the 1982 midterm elections, the party holding the White House (Republicans) lost 26 seats in the House and broke even in the Senate.
Related article:
Former Democrat Pollster: Biden Needs “Course Correction” to Avoid Catastrophe Next November
