LEESBURG, Va. — Democrats huddled here Wednesday to plot legislative strategy for the presidential election year with President Biden mired in historically low poll numbers.
Mr. Biden will appear on the campaign trail with Democratic House candidates and incumbents, said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene, Washington Democrat.
“He’ll be on the campaign trail with some [candidates] — I think?” Ms. DelBene told reporters. “It depends on where. They [Republicans] have their map where they’re going. We, obviously, have to focus where we have our battleground and frontline districts.”
Democrats say Mr. Biden will not be a burden on the campaign trail for their House candidates, and they see an opportunity to recapture the House, overcoming Republicans’ slim majority.
“We have incredible candidates and front liners running. When people see what’s happening on the ground in their districts, that’s when it really sinks — in the great work that happened under President Biden and with House Democrats [in] last Congress,” Ms. Delbene said. “And they want to see in our battleground districts governance work. They don’t want chaos and dysfunction.”
Mr. Biden is expected to address House Democrats late Thursday afternoon at the retreat.
Republicans say they look forward to the unpopular Mr. Biden being on the campaign trail with their opponents.
“We agree with Suzan DelBene that House Democrats should definitely campaign with Joe Biden - and take lots of pictures while they’re at it,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jack Pandol told The Washington Times.
Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar of California touted a recent “strong jobs report” under the Biden-Harris administration and unemployment at “record lows.” Employers added more than 350,000 jobs in January.
“Inflation is cooling and wages are rising. But we know that not everyone is feeling the benefits of that economic recovery yet, and House Democrats are ready to finish the job,” Mr. Aguilar said. “We’re going to talk about our work to put people over politics, lowering costs, creating good paying jobs, building affordable housing and implementing the landmark pieces of legislation that we passed to raise the quality of life for every American.”
The Democrat annual issues retreat sets up a legislative agenda for the party to push on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail. Republicans will hold their own annual issues retreat next month.
“There’s a lot of good news about the economy starting this year. Consumer sentiment is up. Wages are up. Job creation is up. You know what else is up? The stock market. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones are setting record highs,” said Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Ted Lieu of California. “And you know who’s taking notice? Donald Trump. He’s trying to take credit now for the stock market under President Biden.”
Mr. Biden, though, is struggling in recent national polls and in several key states, nine months before the general election.
According to a new NBC News national poll, he trails Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump leads him by 22 points on which candidate would better handle the economy, and Mr. Biden falls behind Mr. Trump by more 30 points on the handling of immigration and the border.
The poll also shows Mr. Trump leading by 16 points over Mr. Biden on competency and effectiveness. This is a reversal from 2020, when Mr. Biden led Mr. Trump on these issues by 9 points before winning the election.
Finally, Mr. Biden’s overall approval rating has sunk to the lowest level of his presidency in the NBC News survey — to 37%.
The poll was conducted Jan. 26-30 and surveyed 1,000 registered voters nationally. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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