During Donald Trump's presidency, Morning Joe used to trumpet any downtick in his approval numbers.
Since Joe Biden entered the White House, however, the show has largely ignored any bad polling news for him. But Biden's predicament has become so dire that Morning Joe can no longer sweep it under the rug.
Monday's show thus devoted a long segment to discussing the unavoidable truth: that Democrats are "panicked" and "scared to death" about Biden. They're confronting a double whammy: Biden's lowest approval rating since becoming president, and even more alarming, a new poll showing him losing to Donald Trump in a head-to-head match up by six points.
Scarborough and company tried to take some of the edge off the Democrats' feeling of impending doom by asserting that Republicans are also panicked about Trump. Joe Scarborough repeatedly pointed to polling showing around 55% agreed Trump should "face criminal charges" over the January 6 riot or his handling of classified documents.
And Scarborough even claimed that, as he's said "a thousand times," it's not "fair" that Biden's numbers are so low. That's more an indictment of Morning Joe's bias than any reflection on Biden's performance.
Bottom line: sure, Republicans may have reasons to worry about Trump. But there's an altogether different level of panic and of being "scared to death" when Democrats see their guy losing to Bad Man Orange by six points!
Morning Joe saying that Democrats are panicked and scared to death over Joe Biden's low approval rating and a poll showing him losing to Donald Trump by six points was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, maker of Nicorette, Sling, Consumer Cellular, and Volvo.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
5/8/23
6:35 am EDTMIKA BRZEZINSKI: Two weeks after he officially announced his re-electioncampaign, polling shows President Joe Biden's approval rating has hit a new low. In the latest Washington Post/ABC News survey, 37% of registered voters say they approve of the president's job performance. His lowest figure for that poll since returning to office.
But there are also some troubling numbers for Biden'smost likely opponent in the 2024 general election, Donald Trump. In the survey, more than half of all voters say Trump should facecriminal charges for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his role in the January 6th insurrection, and for his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
Despite this, the survey shows Trump leading Biden by six points in a 2020 rematch, 45% to 39%.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, I'm not good in math, and I'm going to prove it again. But it seems to me, Charlie Sykes, if 55% of Americans think Donald Trump should be indicted and sent to jail, I understand why Democrats are worried about Joe Biden's numbers. They should be worried. They, they, they are low. At the same time, if 55% of Americans think he should be indicted and face criminal charges, and only 39% don't, maybe that's why he's sitting at 45%.
There's not a real upside to Donald Trump. So Republicans understand this. It's why they're panicked. The Democratic party right now, everywhere I go, everybody's all so panicked about Joe Biden.
. . .
I think the reason why this poll shot around the way it did yesterday, even though it's a year out, it could be an outlier, is because, Jonathan, you and I, I know the Rev has, anybody that is around Democrats regularly, Democratic leaders, they're all scared to death. They really are. And again, I know nobody inside the White Hhouse hears this regularly. We hear it all the time.
Democratic leaders are just as scared of Joe Biden, whether that's fair or not, and we've explained a thousand times why we don't think it's fair. But that's the reality among Democratic leaders, among the Democratic base, just like it is among Republican leaders and the Republican base with Donald Trump.
I think that's the most fascinating thing about this poll, is that both sides are so weak.
