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Here Greger,

Poll: Americans warm to Biden's approach on Russia and Ukraine

https://www.yahoo.com/news/poll-ame...ach-on-russia-and-ukraine-125641393.html

Keep in mind, there’s always a but when it comes to gas prices.
30% of Americans say Biden is “most responsible” for the gas-price increase, Russia (19%) oil and gas companies (23%). A similar number (33%) say Biden would be most responsible if prices continue to rise.

No loaf of bread prices as yet, but I think that will be coming in a couple of months. I’ve seen bread go from 2.00 a loaf over the last year to 3.20 here. Something to keep in mind.

Its unfortunate, but true. Biden is president and he is responsible for EVERYTHING. He does, however, have some choices. One is to blame others but is rarely successful. One I have heard but may have some traction goes something like; "The Democrats have control of the senate except for one democratic guy". That will work with some but only those who know who that would be. Its better, I suspect, if the responsible one is named which actually happens sometimes.

The real trick, for Biden, would be tp actually win one.....

It's a catch 22 sort of problem...most Americans are reasonable and reasonably well informed. At least the ones that vote. They don't want Trumpism back but nobody likes what's happening now either. The Trumpists in power are on a red-meat frenzy the likes of which has never been seen. Iowa just passed a six-day abortion ban.

I still think it's gonna backfire. Only about 30% of Americans want this type of government interference. But ALL of them vote ALL the time. That's why republican pols have to cater to them and that's why these nutcases get elected.

But if I ever trusted American voters to just make the right decision, that went out the window with Trump.

From what I have seen, Biden trying to blame Putin and the Russians for the rise in gas prices has worked with the Democratic base, but not with America in general. Most realize the average price for gallon of gas had risen from 2.10 a gallon over the last year and one half to 3.40 a gallon prior to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. The addition rise of a dollar plus can be placed on the invasion which I think most Americans have done. Now food prices, housing, clothes, cars, appliances etc. has been rising ever since Biden took office. The blame game only works with those who want to believe it.

Not that I blame Biden, inflation, the economy in general is cyclic, it has its ups and downs. No president can control the economy, if he could, we’d have all ups and no downs. The problem is every past president has taken credit for a good economy and thus, presidents get the blame when it turns sour. This is a fact of life and politics. One must live with it whether one likes it or not.

Blaming Manchin, he may be the one who is saving the Democrats from a red wave. Maybe, maybe not. I think the problem is that the democrats haven’t, didn’t look at the entire election results from 2020. They just grabbed hold of the presidential totally ignoring the down ballot offices and the down ballot results. Down ballot, the Republicans had a very good election. They’d probably be crowing about it if not for the presidential. For me, the 2020 election was all about getting rid of Trump. That was all it was. If the people wanted a Democratic progressive agenda passed, they would have elected more democrats to go with Biden. They didn’t, instead they elected additional Republicans in the house, governorship and additional control of state legislatures.

Ummmm...first, the Democratic agenda isn't particularly progressive. Don't get it mixed up with the actual progressive agenda. We would defund the police, not just fundraise on it.

Second, it takes a lot more voters to elect Democrats than it does to elect Republicans.
Currently, Democratic senators represent nearly 40 million more voters than Republican senators – but the Senate is split 50-50. So it isn't really so much what people want as what the political realities dictate. The electoral college lets the loser win and makes no bones about being unfair and more than a little bit ridiculous.

And a lot of people who need to have certain Democratic policies and safety nets put in place are misled into voting against them. I think it's safe to say that one side of the propaganda wars has been much more successful at spreading lies than the other has been spreading truth. Union busting has become a part of Republican policy, but union members are flocking to the party...?

Trade unionists voting for their bourgeois landlords isn't a thing in a rational world.

What were we talking about anyway?

Actually, my reference was to the House of Representatives and not the senate. Only 2/3rds of the states have a senator up for reelection in any one election cycle. The total vote there doesn’t mean anything as a third of the states don’t cast a vote for senators. Now the House is different, we can take it nationwide as everyone can vote for a representative. The Democrats won the nationwide vote 50-48. The democrats won 222 seats, which is more than the 50% of the vote they received.

We’re back to perceptions of the voters. I haven’t studied the union vote outside of just looking at the numbers and who they voted for. The last 3 elections 60% of the union household vote went to Obama in 2012, Clinton received 51% in 2016 and Biden 56% last year. Outside of that, I’ll pass on commenting further. I pay most of my attention to independents. Their perspective today is Biden and company are ignoring what they think is this nation’s most important problem. Because of that, independents are leaning toward voting Republican in the midterms. Most independents aren’t political junkies like you and me or those on this site. They’re casual fans and voters for the most part. They’re like super bowl football fans who don’t pay one iota of attention to the regular season until the super bowl. The same for many, perhaps most independents. They don’t pay any attention to politics until election time. They do however, decide elections. Neither party’s base is large enough to win elections without independents. The GOP needs a majority of them, the Democrats can win by losing independents by a small amount. But no more than 5 points.

Today the two major parties are about even, if Gallup is correct, the democrats has a 2-point advantage 28-26. This is a far cry when the democrats average 45% of the electorate from FDR until Reagan. They average 35% until Obama. The GOP’s 26% is close to their average of the electorate from FDR to today. This is the first time both major party’s base has dropped below the 30% level.

I’ll say this about independents, they usually vote for the most charismatic candidate or the candidate/party with the best bumper sticker slogan. First and foremost, though, is their wallet. A fat wallet, they’ll go with the party in power, a thinning wallet, it’s the party out of power that’ll get their vote.

Yeah, so what were we talking about? I don’t know if I addressed that or not.

Republicans have rejected every piece of legislation ever that might have helped fatten the wallets of voters. Biden's agenda has been to help the neediest out during these difficult and uncertain times. It has been met with resolute rejection from all Republicans and a few Democrats.

Perhaps if Biden had been able to pass the BBB act his numbers would be higher. Perhaps if the minimum wage had been raised his numbers would have been higher. Perhaps if his "progressive democratic agenda" had been successful he'd have been a workingman's hero.

But alas. They weren't and he ain't.

I looked up and Winning is the thread title so that musta been what we were talking about.

I think the war is the elephant in the room now. And Trumpism is too easily connected to Putinism. Russian state tv is featuring Tucker Carlson and his pro-Putin agenda as that of all Americans. Not just the Republican Party.

And Republicans are backtracking and beginning to step away from an unfortunate flirtation with an actual brutal authoritarian. The Trumpiest of the Trump-personators have all announced their loyalty to Putin over the weak and expensive Nato.

Since cognitive dissidence isn't a thing in the Republican world I'm sure they will tidily put it behind them and soon have themselves convinced it was Biden who called Putin savvy and a genius.

Nobody knows what the hell Putin is doing but he's killing innocent people and the world wants it to stop. Stopping it ushers in WW3 and possible nuclear holocaust.

It's just really hard to figure out how this is going to affect the mid terms...but it will.

I remember! You said unforeseeable events would determine mid-term outcomes I said the war was front and center.





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Electing a Party that embraces Putin and his methods might just be more important than your wallet. In Russia, they are arresting protestors who hold up blank signs now. Imagine what protestors would face if somebody like Putin was running America! Not some incompetent game show host, but an actual evil man without dementia.

Occupy a bird sanctuary? Tear gas grenades and flashbang shells. Truck convoy blocking traffic? Confiscated trucks and jailtime for the drivers. Invade the Capital? Machine guns and mass graves.

Advice for those Independents: Be careful what you wish for. The political divide in America is all part of Putin's long game. Right now, the divide is not so much Republicans versus Democrats, as it is people who fell for his scam versus people who didn't.

I understand Greger. Now being a numbers guy, as of today, I haven’t seen any changes at all for the past 3 weeks. The numbers have been steady, steady as in like a rock. Yes, the war is the elephant in the room. No one knows how long it will last or what lies ahead. All I know is that today, domestic issues so far have topped the Ukraine/Russian war. That may be due to the fact we’re not involved militarily as in sending in the troops to fight the Russians. Only time will tell if the war is able to break the stranglehold domestic issues, particularly inflation has on this year’s electorate. No predictions from me on that.

Ponder, if you look at the entire electorate, you’ll find a ton of sympathy for the Ukraine. You’ll find most support Biden in his sanctions and providing military equipment. You’ll also find that the approval of the public for Biden’s handling of the Ukraine/Russia war, he’s getting 68% approval on that. Although only 20% of Americans support sending in the troops to fight the Russians in the Ukraine. Biden’s overwhelming approval on how he has so far handled the Ukraine war hasn’t affected his overall job performance numbers, 41% approve, on the economy 37% approval or the dissatisfaction shown toward him and the Democratic controlled congress regarding most domestic issues. The economy, inflation, rising prices are still the number one or most important issue facing this country today, not the Ukraine.

Looking at the entire electorate, not just a single party’s base, I believe a thinning or thickening wallet will decide the midterms. You may believe the Ukraine is most important, a lot of folks do. But to those who are trying to put food on the table, afford housing, clothes, heat, gas etc. those items has risen by over a third over the last year. This is their worry, not the Ukraine which is far way. A lot of these people just want to make it through today with a full stomach and gas in the car and see the sun rise tomorrow.

Oh! I'm glad you brought this up!

I saw him getting Trump elected as a weakening of the country in general and Trump's anti-NATO stance a weakening of western resolve in general.

But Putin has always played a long game against bigger opponents, he's very very good at it.

Right now, nobody in the world has any idea what his end game could be. He might very well be a genius, but he is an evil genius of the sort that we need The Batman or Captain Marvel to rescue us from.

Putin might have some very real grievances against the West and NATO.

Don't care.

It's no excuse for murder and devastation of your neighbor.