Byron York Second thoughts about voting for Joe Biden by Byron York,
It was well known during the presidential campaign that many Biden voters were happier about voting against Donald Trump than voting for Joe Biden. A Monmouth University poll taken a couple of weeks after the election found that 57 percent of Biden voters reported being happy with his victory, while 73 percent said they were happy that Trump lost. So a significant number of them voted more against Trump than for Biden.
That sense of ambivalence about Biden has lasted into his presidency. A new Fox News poll asked the question, “Are you satisfied with how you voted in the 2020 presidential election, or do you wish you had voted differently?” Ninety-one percent of Biden voters said they were satisfied. Among Democrats, 89 percent said they were satisfied. Of people who call themselves liberals, 85 percent were satisfied. While those numbers are high, they are still lower than the last two winning candidates in the early months of their presidencies. In April 2017, 97 percent of Trump voters said they were satisfied with their vote, while in April 2009, 93 percent of Obama voters said they were satisfied.
There appears to be a growing concern among some voters that Biden is not governing the way he campaigned. During his run for the White House, Biden presented himself as a “centrist,” and much media coverage happily went along. But once in office, Biden has pushed massive spending proposals to remake America. He has not uttered a word of protest when admiring media commentators compared him to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, Democrats who succeeded in passing massive proposals to remake America.
In short, Biden is pushing more change than some of his voters want. The change they wanted was to get rid of Trump, not elect a new FDR.
The Fox News poll asked, “Do you think Joe Biden‘s positions on the issues are too liberal, too conservative, or just about right? Back in December, before Biden was sworn in, 36 percent said his positions were too liberal. Now, 46 percent say so. In December, 15 percent said Biden’s positions were too conservative; now, ten percent say so. In both polls, about 40 percent said Biden’s positions were just about right. But the bottom line is the number of voters who believe Biden is too liberal is growing.
Fox also asked voters whether they thought the Biden administration’s spending proposals are “intended to jumpstart the economy” or “intended to transform the country with liberal social policies.” Forty-four percent said jumpstart the economy, while 47 percent said enact liberal social policies.
Biden’s overall job approval remains fairly high — 54 percent in the Fox poll, the same as in April. But his performance during his first few months in office has been judged in large part by his handling of the COVID pandemic, which was easing even before he was sworn in. Biden’s only big legislative success so far was sold as a COVID relief bill, even though it was much more than that. And of course, dealing with the pandemic was one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, voters chose Biden.
But now, Biden is moving on to bigger plans, sometimes described as an effort to “rebuild America.” Which leads to a question: Does America really need to be rebuilt? Biden’s agenda, a liberal wish-list of big spending on social services, a government-wide emphasis on “equity,” and even consideration of a plan to pack the Supreme Court, likely goes beyond what many of his voters bargained for. Look for an increasing number of voters to say they’re having second thoughts about their choice last November.
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