Whichever way it shakes out, there’s bound to be a major shift in the White House power structure.
A shocking poll now places Kamala Harris above her boss Joe Biden in regards to overall approval rating.
About 44% of Americans approve of the job Harris is doing, while only 43% approve of the job Biden is doing, according to the poll.
The difference is approval ratings is only one percentage point, but Harris’ approval rating has already dropped quite low.
The vice president has been heavily criticized by Republicans and has been the subject of frustration among Democrats in recent weeks. Kamala has brushed off that criticism by playing the gender and race cards, claiming she’s being unfairly maligned due to her being a woman of color.
Meanwhile, inside sources revealed last month that the White House and Harris’ office have grown frustrated with each other as Harris struggles to find focus and organization as vice president. Her supporters have complained that Biden simply is not giving Harris the opportunity to lead and succeed.
Harris has been particularly criticized for her strategy — or lack of it — on the southern border. Biden tapped her with handling the migration crisis in southern states, but her chosen strategy has been widely regarded as largely ineffective.
Harris has said that her “primary focus” in dealing with the border is to address the “root causes of migration” out of Central American countries like Guatemala. However, migrants continue to cross the southern border into the U.S., overwhelming border authorities and immigration courts.
Meanwhile, Biden has political and legislative issues of his own that are not helping his poll numbers.
The president’s Build Back Better Act, his signature $1.9 trillion social spending bill and a key campaign promise, was effectively tanked days before Christmas when Sen. Joe Manchin refused to vote for it.
“Despite my best efforts, I cannot explain the sweeping Build Back Better Act in West Virginia and I cannot vote to move forward on this mammoth piece of legislation,” Manchin said.
Progressive Democrats fumed at Biden’s failure to secure enough Democratic support for his promised spending plan and now demand executive action to hammer through the legislation.
It’s still unclear the direction DNC leaders will proceed: force Joe Biden to resign as a function of his age and rapidly declining mental cognition, or remove Kamala and place her in another top roll within the federal government.
Either way 2022 is looking much, much sweeter.
Author: Sebastian Hayworth