Back to Iowa
Despite all the talk about Democrats stripping Iowa of it’s first-in-the-nation presidential selection status, it’s still a battleground state especially in this year’s midterms. Democrats only old one seat in Washington out of the six House and Senate seats the state has, but five of the six are up this time.
That may in part explain why President Joe Biden will be back in Iowa tomorrow…but he’s frankly never been that popular here.
Recall that it was at an appearance at the Iowa State Fair in 1987 that his first run for president fell apart, after he too liberally borrowed from remarks made by a British politician. His 2008 caucus performance was so bad, he dropped out of the race before the night was over. He did not win the Iowa caucus in 2020…and finished 8 percentage points behind Donald Trump in the general election that year.
The White House says Biden will discuss his economic agenda and actions he is taking to lower costs for working families. He’ll also take a victory lap for the $5 billion due the state for roads, bridges, broadband and water infrastructure improvements as part of the infrastructure bill that was passed last year.
But barely a third of Iowans approve of his job performance according to the latest leading statewide poll…with 59 percent disapproving.
National media coverage has documented the relatively weak state of Iowa’s Democrat party at present, so having a relatively weak president popularity-wise show up is interesting. It’s not clear either will benefit from the trip.
