Reagan Reese writes for the Daily Caller about the impact of recent polling numbers.
A polling anomaly in the latest numbers from the New York Times and Siena College has Republican strategists predicting more good news to come for the GOP.
The NYT and Siena released a survey Monday showing former President Donald Trump leading President Joe Biden across five key swing states: Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Of registered voters, 33% said they would vote for Biden if the election was held in May with Trump getting 40% of the vote.
But while Biden trails Trump by a healthy margin, the down-ballot races are a different story. Senate Democrats are doing much better across the same states states, with 45% of voters choosing Democrats as opposed to 40% of voters choosing Republicans.
The numbers could paint a rosy picture for Senate Democrats, but several strategists told the Daily Caller it could be fool’s gold, adding that an unpopular Biden could affect Democrats down ballot as the election goes on.
“It shows you the depths of disappointment that most voters have with Biden, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans. There’s just a lot of disappointment in Biden. If I were Biden, I would be extremely alarmed by this gap that you’ve got voters out there saying, ‘yeah, I’d like to vote for this Democratic senator, but not Joe Biden.’ That is a huge red flag for them,” longtime Kentucky Republican strategist Scott Jennings told the Daily Caller.
The president has faced a string of poor polling that shows him losing matchups to Trump both nationally and across key swing states. Biden is also dealing with a poor approval rating, as Americans stress they are focused on the economy and border crisis.
While the NYT poll shows Democrats winning state races, having a weak Biden that voters aren’t excited about could doom other Democrats relying on the president to generate turnout, communications adviser Mark R. Weaver told the Daily Caller.