It gives me no pleasure to tell you this, but despite his ever-increasing number of indictments, Donald Trump is trouncing every other Republican presidential candidate in the latest poll released by The New York Times and Siena College.
Look, this isn’t surprising. He’s been leading the polls the entire time, and it’s not like there’s some good, sensible, well-intentioned Republican candidate he’s trouncing (that doesn’t exist). All the options are terrible, so why do I feel so bad about this?! I’m about to answer my own question, here, because the press is fumbling this ball already. Per The New York Times:
Still, warning signs abound for the president: Despite his improved standing and a friendlier national environment, Mr. Biden remains broadly unpopular among a voting public that is pessimistic about the country’s future, and his approval rating is a mere 39 percent.
Perhaps most worryingly for Democrats, the poll found Mr. Biden in a neck-and-neck race with former President Donald J. Trump, who held a commanding lead among likely Republican primary voters even as he faces two criminal indictments and more potential charges on the horizon. Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump were tied at 43 percent apiece in a hypothetical rematch in 2024, according to the poll.
Yep, that’s right, Biden and Trump are being painted as equal options, despite one of them having an overwhelmingly scandal-free presidency (his son Hunter is not a part of his administration, so you can stop that right there) and the other led an insurrection and got impeached (again!) as a result on his way out the door. But sure, let’s present each of them like they’re equal in measure. Let’s also go after President Biden as a lackluster candidate as if we have the memory of warthogs and can’t remember what a flaming pile of garbage Trump’s presidency was like. (Warthogs have such terrible memories that they’re known for stopping mid-flight from running from a predator because they forgot what they were running from. This seems like a very apt comparison considering Donald Trump is the leading Republican for the GOP’s nomination right now.) Per The New York Times:
To borrow an old political cliché, the poll shows that Mr. Biden’s support among Democrats is a mile wide and an inch deep. About 30 percent of voters who said they planned to vote for Mr. Biden in November 2024 said they hoped Democrats would nominate someone else. Just 20 percent of Democrats said they would be enthusiastic if Mr. Biden were the party’s 2024 presidential nominee; another 51 percent said they would be satisfied but not enthusiastic.
[…]
Mr. Biden had the backing of 64 percent of Democrats who planned to participate in their party’s primary, an indicator of soft support for an incumbent president. Thirteen percent preferred Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and 10 percent chose Marianne Williamson.
Look, it’s been a long time since I was in school and had to use the scientific method, but if I got those results, I would probably check my methodology because 10 percent for Marianna Williamson?! WHAT?!
Additionally, can we stop this narrative that people are unenthusiastic to reelect President Biden? Personally, I am not enthusiastic about it because the 2020 election scarred my soul and I hate that we have to do this all over again, and it really feels like we just did it yet here we are. All because some people in this country want a racist insurrectionist in charge rather than just admit that everyone in this country deserves equal rights; but you better believe I would sleep outside my polling place to place my vote for Joe Biden if it was the only way for me to vote.
So let’s get back to that methodology, shall we, all the way hidden in the fine print of the polls findings. Per The New York Times:
The New York Times/Siena College poll of 1,329 registered voters nationwide, including an oversample of 818 registered Republican voters, was conducted in English and Spanish on cellular and landline telephones from July 23-27, 2023. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.67 percentage points for all registered voters and plus or minus 3.96 percentage points for the likely Republican primary electorate.
This is the same old s***. Oversampling of Republicans, small sample size in general, and dependent on people picking up their landlines or cell phones. What infuriates me is that this data is then treated as gospel by The New York Times and they do the whole “Joe Biden is in trouble” schtick they love to do. As if the fate of our country, and the world, isn’t on the line?! I should know better than to get upset at this since they’re been doing it for as long as I can remember, but still, come on. How is this the story, and not “ten percent of poll respondents were actually house pets that inexplicably can pick up a phone, answer it, and tell us they would vote for Marianne Williamson”?! Surely that is the story since no one in their right mind would vote for her over Biden.
Donald Trump, for his part, is already doing a victory lap. Why wouldn’t he? He has the press where he wants them, treating him like a legitimate candidate and not a man who has been arrested multiple times. What a country!
Oh, and if you’re thinking that this latest indictment might turn some Republican voters off of Trump, the opposite is probably true. This does not, unfortunately, seem to be a deterrent to his supporters. Just look at how he was able to turn the last two indictments into massive fundraising hauls:
This whole thing is gross. I hate that we’re most likely getting a Biden vs. Trump rematch. I really hate that we most likely have to sit through a-holes who never took a civics class to save their life screaming about how this election was inevitably rigged, too. It’s all so stupid, and yet, so American.
The only bright spot here is that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is getting wiped in the polls. People hate this guy. Good.
(Featured Image: Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
