The deadly incompetence in Afghanistan, the summer of skyrocketing prices, and sluggish job growth all stemming from massive spending that’s driven up inflation had woke up Americans to the liberal media’s lies about President Biden being a world-class leader. With pollsters now showing Biden as a largely unpopular president, ABC was suddenly shocked during Sunday’s Good Morning America as they finally gave their polling some daylight and analysis.
ABC couldn’t even be honest about when the poll came out. According to co-anchor Dan Harris, the ABC News/Washington Post poll was “released overnight.” But in reality, the poll was released on September 3, Friday.
But, of course, ABC would lie about when their poll of released because this may have been the first time their viewers had really heard about it. As NewsBusters’ Scott Whitlock reported on Friday, that morning’s GMA only gave the findings 30 seconds. The Sunday segment was just over two minutes (2:05).
So, Harris wasn’t off to a good start when he fretted: “among independents, Joe Biden is down 7 points on his handling of COVID and 9 points on his handling of the economy.” He then brought on ABC political director Rick Klein to explain “why” he chose to focus on those bad numbers. And Klein was shocked:
Biden's approval ratings. And it's that middle of the country, independents. So much of the key to his support in the past that appear to have turned on President Biden, not just on Afghanistan, but on issues like the economy, on COVID, even his legislative agenda. That's been the secret to Biden's success.
And now to look at his approval rating just barely above water on COVID in particular that is a striking change from where he was earlier in his presidency.
“That core competency that he’s been able to rely on appears to be gone,” he warned. “And a lot of people thought Afghanistan, of course, the botched end of the war, that’s a piece of it but it has spilled over into so many other parts of American life. There's a lot of pessimism out there. And pessimism in particular about President Biden's handling of these big issues.”
Instead of wondering how Americans could trust the President to run country anymore, Harris’s chief concern was how Biden could get his agenda passed. “So, with his poll numbers down, how does that impact his ability to get things done, in particular with Congress,” he asked Klein.
Klein tried to let him down easy by reminding him that “Biden has governed has been the idea that he’s got the middle with him, that he’s got independents, that he’s got the country, a kind of pragmatic center on board.” But since pushing his agenda had “been predicated on the idea of a relatively popular president doing relatively popular things,” the “political calculus” changed since he’s now under water.
“With Congress coming back after Labor Day, they have a huge amount of things they need to get done (…) And that is what Biden is going to be up against,” he lamented. “He'll face significant headwinds from inside his own party, from independents in trying to navigate these things with less public support than he's had in the past.”
ABC’s lies about their poll and fretting for Biden’s agenda were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Allegra and Liberty Mutual, which got a special shout out when they went to commercial.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
September 5, 2021
8:17:37 a.m. EasternDAN HARRIS: The crisis in Afghanistan has driven down President Biden's approval ratings. But it is not the only factor. According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll released overnight, among independents, Joe Biden is down 7 points on his handling of COVID and 9 points on his handling of the economy. And that's just since July. So, let's bring in ABC News political director Rick Klein. Rick, good morning. You wanted to highlight those numbers in particular. Why?
RICK KLEIN: Dan, it's truly striking because as rough as this summer was for the country you see this toll in President Biden's approval ratings. And it's that middle of the country, independents. So much of the key to his support in the past that appear to have turned on President Biden, not just on Afghanistan, but on issues like the economy, on COVID, even his legislative agenda. That's been the secret to Biden's success.
And now to look at his approval rating just barely above water on COVID in particular that is a striking change from where he was earlier in his presidency. That core competency that he’s been able to rely on appears to be gone. And a lot of people thought Afghanistan, of course, the botched end of the war, that’s a piece of it but it has spilled over into so many other parts of American life. There's a lot of pessimism out there. And pessimism in particular about President Biden's handling of these big issues.
HARRIS: So, with his poll numbers down, how does that impact his ability to get things done, in particular with Congress?
KLEIN: Yeah. That’s just it, Dan, is that much of the key to how Biden has governed has been the idea that he’s got the middle with him, that he’s got independents, that he’s got the country, a kind of pragmatic center on board. And this month is going to be critical for so many parts of his agenda.
With Congress coming back after Labor Day, they have a huge amount of things they need to get done. It's been predicated on the idea of a relatively popular president doing relatively popular things. So, when that changes, it changes the political calculus.
And that is what Biden is going to be up against. He'll face significant headwinds from inside his own party, from independents in trying to navigate these things with less public support than he's had in the past.
HARRIS: Potentially dicey days for President Joe Biden. Rick Klein, appreciate your analysis on a Sunday morning.
