Source: Politics<\/p>\n
The last time Virginia and New Jersey elected governors in 2017, then-President Donald Trump was nowhere to be found. With his approval rating below 40 percent, neither GOP nominee wanted him anywhere near their campaigns.<\/p>\n
Fast forward four years and Joe Biden\u2019s poll numbers aren\u2019t much better. Yet Democrats have welcomed Biden on the campaign trail. Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe and New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy both appeared on stage with him this week. Elsewhere, other Democrats have been happy to greet the president upon his arrival in their states and be seen with him in front of voters.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a departure from political custom, which typically sees candidates dodge unpopular presidents in an effort to avoid being associated with them. It\u2019s also a sign that Biden\u2019s grip on his party remains strong \u2014 even at a time when his agenda has been stymied and his overall popularity has nosedived.<\/p>\n
Since Gallup began measuring presidential approval ratings in 1945, the only president with a lower approval rating than Biden at this point<\/a> was Trump. Yet among Democrats nationally, Biden\u2019s approval rating still remains high \u2014 92 percent. In Virginia, where Biden\u2019s overall approval rating slumped to 43 percent in a Monmouth University poll last week<\/a>, the president\u2019s rating among Democrats is at 84 percent.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is just not in any way the kind of toxic waste dump that Trump became,\u201d said Matt Bennett of the center-left group Third Way. \u201cI would guess that even if Biden isn\u2019t over 50 [percent public approval] next year, you\u2019re going to see him campaigning with a ton of congressional Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n Four years ago, the off-year campaigns preceding the midterm elections not only foreshadowed the GOP\u2019s collapse in 2018, with Democrats reclaiming the House, but also suggested the damage that Trump himself could inflict down ballot on the GOP, especially with independent and suburban voters. Running in the off-year elections, Republicans Ed Gillespie and Kim Guadagno, in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, were the first Republicans to see it \u2014 and to keep Trump at an arm\u2019s length. In Virginia, Trump became the first sitting president since Richard Nixon not to campaign in the commonwealth\u2019s governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n Biden may ultimately prove just as damaging to the Democratic ticket in 2022. His standing with independents, a critical constituency in competitive House races, has plummeted nationally<\/a>. Americans are blaming Biden for inflation, he still does not have an infrastructure deal in Congress, and more than 60 percent of voters<\/a> say the country is off on the wrong track.<\/p>\n With the party out of power in the White House traditionally losing seats in a president\u2019s first midterm elections, McAuliffe acknowledged last month that his campaign was \u201cfacing a lot of headwinds from Washington.\u201d He told supporters on a video call<\/a> that \u201cthe president is unpopular today, unfortunately, here in Virginia, so we have got to plow through.\u201d<\/p>\n One Democratic strategist who manages House and Senate races said that given Biden\u2019s dismal polling, he would advise his candidates not to get anywhere near the sitting president.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just no evidence that Biden is a net positive in the suburbs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But Biden, so far, has not been shunned. In Virginia, where Biden beat Trump by more than 10 percentage points<\/a> last year, many of the state\u2019s most prominent Democrats participated in a photoline with the president Tuesday, including five House Democrats from across the state.<\/p>\n Two weeks earlier, Connecticut\u2019s entire congressional delegation, the governor and the mayor of the state\u2019s largest city \u2014 all Democrats \u2014 greeted Biden at the Hartford airport when he arrived for a day of events promoting his Build Back Better Agenda.<\/p>\n A McAuliffe adviser said the campaign did not even discuss the possibility of keeping Biden away. Even if Biden\u2019s approval rating has fallen in Virginia, the adviser noted that among Democrats, he remains a \u201clikeable figure people trust.\u201d It\u2019s that Democratic constituency McAuliffe is laboring to turn out. <\/p>\n In New Jersey, similar forces are at work. Five House Democrats were present for Biden\u2019s appearance with Murphy Tuesday, including Rep. Tom Malinowski, who won his district by slightly more than 1 percentage point<\/a> last year and who is expected to face a difficult reelection in 2022.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s approval ratings \u201cmay be sagging with independents, but he is still quite popular with Democrats,\u201d said David Axelrod, the former Barack Obama adviser. \u201cIf you believe this is a close election, in which motivating your base is essential, deploying Biden makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cIt will mean even more if the House passes the economic bills this week and Biden can sign the infrastructure bill.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans nationally believe Biden will be an albatross for Democrats next year. Sen. Rick Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told reporters on Monday<\/a> that \u201che\u2019s our best asset right now.\u201d<\/p>\n But unlike in previous midterms, Republicans attempting to nationalize the elections in 2022 will not have a clean shot at Biden. That\u2019s because Trump, the, twice-impeached former president, continues to insert himself in the midterm campaign. In that climate, Democrats may find it useful to trot out Biden as a reminder of the alternative.<\/p>\n In Virginia, Trump\u2019s looming presence has turned the traditional, bash-the-president midterm dynamic on its head, with Democrats embracing the Biden-Trump contrast and Republicans seeking to localize the election. <\/p>\n