OPINION:
A brand new poll from The New York Times and Siena College shows Donald Trump beating Joe Biden for the race for the presidency in five of six battleground states, with leads between 3 and 10 percentage points.
Yes. That’s how bad Biden really is.
Even if Trump had to campaign from a jail cell — Biden would still lose.
In Arizona, Trump’s ahead of Biden 49 percent to 44 percent.
In Georgia, Trump’s winning 49 percent to 43 percent.
In Michigan, it’s Trump 48 percent; Biden 43 percent.
In Nevada, Trump’s 52 percent; Biden, 41 percent.
In Pennsylvania, Trump has 48 percent to Biden’s 44 percent.
Go home, Joe.
And not the White House home — the one in Delaware.
In Wisconsin, Biden still bests, 47 percent to Trump’s 45 percent.
But wait for it, wait for it. The ability of this president to alienate voters cannot be understated.
“Biden is facing growing concerns among independent voters as polling shows lackluster approval from a key group in deciding who wins the White House,” The Hill wrote last week, in a story about Gallup’s findings of Biden’s approval drop of 4 points among independents over the span of just a few days.
“Biden Bleeds Younger Voters, Now Trails Trump in Swing States,” Rolling Stone wrote in a headline just a few hours ago, the magazine’s takeaway from this New York Times/Sienna College survey.
And now, as The Hill wrote, “some in the political sphere [are] expressing concerns.”
Ya think?
Former President Barack Obama has emerged from government shadows to throw in support for Biden; simultaneously, former Obama adviser David Axelrod has just come out to say Biden should drop his 2024 run.
Which view will prevail? What an exciting dilemma for Democrats.
The question for the party of elder abuse is this: Can Biden serve as a puppet for another campaign season — another four years in the White House — or have his strings weakened beyond repair?
Obama, who once famously said on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” he’d “be fine with a third term” if he could have “a stand-in” who wore “an earpiece,” apparently doesn’t want to let Joe go just yet. It’s too much fun to govern from the shadows, dontcha know.
But this is where the worlds of politics and medicine collide.
It’s anybody’s guess if Biden’s meds will hold.
Already, he stumbles and bumbles, talks to dead people and shakes hands with air, calls out his “President” Kamala Harris and reads stage directions from his printed speeches. The question of Biden for 2024 isn’t one so much about age and his existing mental capacity as it is about developments in prescription pills.
If Big Pharma can come up with a strong enough drug that will allow Biden to stand at the podium without falling and drooling, then Democrats, under the pressing of Obama, will likely rally around him.
If Big Pharma isn’t able to find a drug strong enough to do that — without curbing Biden’s ability to speak or, at the least, mumble — then Axelrod’s view will win.
With Biden 2024, it’s really a matter of medical breakthrough.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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