While guest hosting Inside Politics on CNN on Thursday, Phil Mattingly wondered how President Biden's approval rating could be so low -- after all he has signed major pieces of legislation, and the economy is allegedly "robust." To alleviate his confusion, Mattingly welcomed CNN historian Tim Naftali to explain that Biden's numbers will eventually go up because at the current moment he is being dealing with things beyond his control.
Mattingly got the segment started by providing some context, "President Biden will end his first year in office with his approval rating under water. It hasn't been north of 50% since July according to Gallup and now hovers in the low 40s. So what's to blame for the languishing numbers?"
A perplexed Mattingly then introduced Naftali and declared, "I find this to be so fascinating because there's major legislative achievements, there's a robust economic recovery, and yet when you look back over history, including the last three presidents, I'll pull them up right now, only former President Trump had a lower approval rating at the end of his first year. Why?"
Naftali immediately began making excuses, declaring Biden inherited three "unprecedented" crises: the pandemic, January 6 aftermath, and "the country had been through a traumatic series of grassroots, important grassroots demonstrations showing the anger and impatience with the structural racism that remains in the country."
Regarding the pandemic, Naftali claimed, "He comes in projecting calm, projecting maturity and his natural optimism. The problem is that we still face the pandemic, and the morphing of the pandemic has undermined some of the optimism that he understandably wanted to -- wanted to share with us."
Maybe Biden's arrogant declarations that he would end the pandemic have something to do with Biden's low numbers in that regard, but Naftali ignored such remarks, probably because he previously claimed the pandemic was one reason why Trump was "the worst president America has ever had."
However, Biden fans watching CNN need not worry, because the dip in his approval is temporary, "If we move through this pandemic as is-- as is inevitable, he, being our leader, that's the way it works in this country, if you're president, you get the good and the bad. As our president he will get the -- he will get the credit for the recovery that will ensue, but it hasn’t happened yet, and, in fact, we’re all impatient, our mood is sour and he at the moment is the target for all of that."
CNN may give him credit for the recovery, but most people are smart enough to know that the economic recovery will only be, to use Mattingly's word, "robust," because the economic contraction was self-imposed, not because Biden is an economic genius.
This segment was sponsored by Colonial Penn.
Here is a transcript for the December 30 show:
CNN
Inside Politics with John King
12:48 PM ET
PHIL MATTINGLY: President Biden will end his first year in office with his approval rating under water. It hasn't been north of 50% since July according to Gallup and now hovers in the low 40s so what's to blame for the languishing numbers? We're going to get some historical context from the CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali. Tim, thanks so much for your time. I find this to be so fascinating because there's major legislative achievements, there's a robust economic recovery, and yet when you look back over history, including the last three presidents, I'll pull them up right now, only former President Trump had a lower approval rating at the end of his first year. Why?
TIM NAFTALI: Well, first of all, let's keep in mind the challenges that this president faces because they’re, they are unprecedented for this moment in a first term. He came into office as President Biden, came into office with the pandemic, that's one crisis. He was coming in on the heels of a manufactured political crisis by his predecessor, the Stop the Steal movement, which led to the insurrection on January 6, and the country had been through a traumatic series of grassroots, important grassroots demonstrations showing the anger and impatience with the structural racism that remains in the country so those are three major shocks to the system, all of which this new president had to handle.He comes in projecting calm, projecting maturity and his natural optimism. The problem is that we still face the pandemic, and the morphing of the pandemic has undermined some of the optimism that he understandably wanted to -- wanted to share with us. I mean, our best presidents, our most successful presidents have been the optimists. Ronald Reagan, very optimistic. Franklin Roosevelt, beaming with optimism about our future, and that's why Joe Biden's legacy will be determined next year or the year after. If we move through this pandemic as is-- as is inevitable, he, being our leader, that's the way it works in this country, if you're president, you get the good and the bad. As our president he will get the -- he will get the credit for the recovery that will ensue, but it hasn’t happened yet, and, in fact, we’re all impatient, our mood is sour and he at the moment is the target for all of that.
