New tracking polls have started coming out and they pretty consistently show that Joe Biden didn't get a bounce from his State of the Union address. But even if that's true, I think it misses the real impact of the speech.
State of the Union addresses never have much effect on a president's approval ratings. But this one had a big impact on the media narrative. When was the last time you saw a story about Biden being too old and infirm for the job? About a week ago Wednesday, I'd say. Outside of Fox News, they just disappeared after Biden's address.
So was the speech a big win? Oh yes indeed.
Yeah, this can happen when the media and Republicans -- but I repeat myself -- get high on their own supply.
This. All day long.
It was almost rope-a-dopey. Even got Ezra Klein in on the scam.
My favorite part was the RW gasbags complaining the next day about how unCIVIL it was.
And now Speaker Johnson is saying there will probably be a vote on Ukraine support. Which was a major theme of the speech.
Also a win.
And the fact that Biden spent a lot of focus on "assault on democracy" and it played well. Big, big win.
i wonder why johnson is (apparently) allowing a vote. certainly not a pricipled stand to protect a democracy from russian invasion. and i'm sure trump is against it. so is there enough pressure from his own caucus? some influential donors?
Everything is breaking against Republicans.
The Biden impeachment scheme is going nowhere, having completely fallen apart with their central witness admitting he was a Russian puppet while indicted for lying to the FBI, and hearings with testimony that completely contradicted their narrative.
Anyone notice that it's been one month since the House impeached Mayorkas but has so far failed to present the Articles to the Senate?
And it's all self-pwn.
Now, the have most of Europe hating on them for blocking US aid to Ukraine.
Everything is breaking against Republican except the polls.
Yes, people with actual thinking ability would be swayed by your observations.
Unfortunately, the majority of the electorate does not possess this attribute.
The more voters start to lean into the election, the more the polls will veer away from Republicans.
Smirnov is indicted for lying to the FBI, and the other witness who made strong accusations against the Bidens, Tony Bobulinski, apparently has given conflicting accounts. To believe Bobulinski, you have to believe that a number of other witnesses, including the half-dozen FBI agents he spoke to, are lying. Hmm.
OK, Kevin, your post is snark, right?
About a week ago, you predicted a modest gain of one point in his approval rating after the speech. It hasn't happened.
So now you appear to be moving the goalposts and manufacturing some new "evidence". Fewer articles being written about Biden's age? Well maybe that says something about the punditocracy, but I doubt whether it says anything about actual voters.
A simpler explanation is that concerns about Biden's age are "baked-in" at this point. Now, that would explain why his approval polls are frozen at 38%. That would explain Biden losing ground in head-to-head polls, like the Emerson poll that has him down by 4 points in Pennsylvania.
My take-away. Liberals are at least as capable of self-deception as are "conservatives".
You seem to think "Biden's poll numbers" and "the Biden narrative in the media" are the same thing when they are not. Kevin thought there would be a bump in the poll numbers but admits in the first sentence that there was not.
He then goes on to talk about a completely different thing, the media narrative and how it's changed. Both things can be and are true. The speech had no real impact poll-wise but the media has changed how they are covering Biden.
There you libruls go again, with your "meaning" of "words," and your "logic," and pointing out "facts" and "differences." Prob'ly something you "learned" in "school."
Agreed. Very perceptive.
I think this is right. I always thought the insta-poll following a speech like the SOTU is one of the dumbest media traditions. The ability to shift the media's daily obsession is much more important over time. It may have permanently demoted the "feeble old Joe" narrative. That doesn't mean there won't be something else that they latch onto in order to keep the polls as close to the treasured "dead heat" status as possible when we get into campaign ad revenue season later this year.