Biden faces an ‘erosion of support’

NEWS AND OPINION:

Yes, the White House honeymoon really is on the wane.

“President Joe Biden has seen an erosion in support since April, mainly from fellow Democrats, as his administration wrestles with Congress to make good on campaign promises and more Americans worry about an uneven economic recovery,” Reuters reports, citing their own survey of 4,420 U.S. adults conducted with IPSOS June 11-17 and released Wednesday.

The dismay is growing as the U.S. “looks past” the COVID-19 pandemic, the poll analysis said, comparing Mr. Biden’s new approval rating on a number of issues to a similar poll conducted in April.

“A growing number of Americans disapprove of Biden’s leadership on the economy, gun violence and taxation, with the biggest decline coming within Biden’s Democratic Party, especially those under the age of 40, non-white Democrats or those who do not have a college degree,” the analysis noted.

Indeed, Mr. Biden enjoyed a 75% approval on the economy in April; that has fallen to 63%. His stance on gun violence earned a 62% approval, but now stands at 44%. Two-thirds of the poll respondents backed his tax policy; that percentage has now slipped to 52%.

“Democrats are facing an uphill battle heading into the midterms because the American people are rejecting their radical policies,” comments Mike Berg, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, on reviewing the new findings.

GAS DREAD

“There’s no freedom from high gas prices for the Independence Day holiday weekend,” proclaims Jeanette C. McGee, communications director of the American Automobile Association.

“At $3.09, the national gas price average is at its highest of the year and not stopping. That average will increase, possibly as much as another nickel, in the lead up to Independence Day we forecast a record-breaking 43.6 million Americans will hit the road for a holiday getaway,” she notes.

This is the highest price per gallon since the cost hit $3.66 over the July Fourth weekend, 2014. Meanwhile, the nation’s least expensive gas can be found in Mississippi, where it is $2.73 a gallon, Louisiana ($2.74) and Texas ($2.77).

GasBuddy.com, a consumer site that also tracks those gas prices, says the national average price per gallon is even higher — weighing in at $3.14. This is up by almost $1 since 2020 — when the average price was $2.10 per gallon, the organization said.

DEPORTATIONS PLUMMET

COVID-19 seriously affected border issues, according to new research.

“Based on new data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, deportations showed a significant decline during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, about 20,500 deportations took place each month during the five-year period between June 2015 and February 2020. But by June 2020, that number was less than 6,000,” the research group said in a statement.

The analysis is based on Immigration and Customs Enforcement records obtained through court litigation.

THE BORDER CRISIS ESCALATES

A round of hearty applause for former President Donald Trump and his tour of the southern U.S. border on Wednesday. But lest we forget, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise led a congressional delegation to Texas in April. They toured the Donna Migrant Processing Facility, surveyed the border wall, met with U.S. Border Patrol agents and went on a nighttime ride along with agents to see the situation for themselves.

Mr. Scalise has not forgotten what he saw.

“President Trump had gotten control of our southern border and he had actually engaged countries like Mexico, like Honduras, and El Salvador and Guatemala to help us get control of the southern border. And what President Biden did is reverse all of those things that were working. And it’s now out of control. In fact, the drug cartels have operational control,” the Louisiana Republican told Fox News on Wednesday.

Border Patrol agents, he said, pine for the days when Mr. Trump’s border controls were in place and his policies were working, Mr. Scalise said, noting that Mr. Biden and Democratic allies now demand open borders, despite facilities “overrun” with undocumented immigrants.

“They don’t know what to do with them. They’re sending them to states all around the nation, and they won’t even be honest with us or the American people about where they’re going, which states they’re sending them to,” Mr. Scalise said.

“Local school systems are going to be getting kids by the hundreds that can’t speak English. And they don’t care about those consequences because they just want to register everybody to vote. They have an agenda, and they’re using these kids, unfortunately, as playing pieces in their game. It’s a dangerous political game for America,” the lawmaker concluded.

COMIC RELIEF

The pandemic, public discord and other factors have been very, very good for one business in particular.

“Combined comics and graphic novel sales hit a new high in the pandemic year of 2020,” advises an analysis issued Wednesday by ICv2 and Comichron — both industry sources which track comics and other “pop culture products.”

Total comics and graphic novel sales in the U.S. and Canada hit $1.28 billion in 2020, a 6% increase over sales in 2019, the report said.

“The collectible side of the comics business was also strong. The collector market flourished during the year, allowing comics shops to earn significant revenue from their back-issue inventories,” said John Jackson Miller, a lead data analyst with Comichron.

POLL DU JOUR

• 63% of U.S. adults say the government knows more about UFOs than it is telling the public. 67% of Republicans, 67% of independents and 63% of Democrats agree.

• 10% overall say the government is telling the public everything it knows about UFOs; 6% of Republicans, 10% of independents and 14% of Democrats agree.

• 27% overall are not sure; 27% of Republicans, 24% of independents and 24% of Democrats agree.

Source: An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted June 26-29.

• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com