President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden, who today is making his first visit to Texas since his January inauguration, starts his term with about the same numbers of voters giving him good and bad marks for job performance, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Among registered Texas voters, 45% approve of the job he’s doing and 44% disapprove. Those results include 30% who said they strongly approve of his performance and 39% who strongly disapprove. The partisan lines are strong: 80% of Republicans disapprove, while 89% of Democrats approve.
“Election season always hardens partisan attitudes. That didn’t end with the election,” said James Henson, co-director of the poll and head of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “I don’t know that we ever got out of election mode.”
Biden’s grades for responding to COVID-19 are better, with 49% approving what he’s doing and 36% saying they disapprove. That’s an improvement over his predecessor: In the October 2020 UT/TT Poll, 45% of voters approved Donald Trump’s coronavirus response, while 48% did not — including 43% who disapproved strongly.
“He’s starting out, in a Republican state, with fairly respectable numbers,” Daron Shaw, a government professor at UT-Austin and co-director of the poll, said of Biden.
The assessment of Gov. Greg Abbott’s COVID-19 response has improved a bit since October. In both polls, 44% said the governor is doing a good job, and the number who giving him bad marks has fallen 5 percentage points, to 41% from 46%. Public approval for Abbott’s handling of the pandemic peaked at the beginning; in the April 2020 UT/TT Poll, 56% of Texas voters approved of his responses and 29% disapproved.
[…]
The governor’s numbers held steady, with 46% of Texas voters giving him an approving job review and 39% giving him a disapproving one. In October, his results were 47% – 40% — virtually the same.
The same was true for [Sen. Ted] Cruz: 45% positive and 43% negative in this poll, compared to 46% – 42% in October.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn got positive marks from 32% of voters, and negative marks from 42% — a more negative showing than either Cruz or Abbott. In October, right before he was reelected, Cornyn’s job performance was rated positively by 39% and negatively by the same percentage.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s job review was flat: 37% of voters say he’s doing a good job and 36% saying they disapprove of his work. The state’s newest legislative leader, House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, elevated to that post by his peers just a few weeks ago, still hasn’t made an impression on most Texas voters; 60% said either that they have a neutral or no assessment of how he’s doing his job, while 22% gave him positive grades and 18% were negative.
As the story notes, the poll was in the field during the freeze week, almost entirely before Ted Cruz’s excellent adventure in Cancun. It’s likely his numbers would have dipped if the poll had been done a week later. It’s possible the same is true for Abbott, though that’s harder to say for sure. Even a modest decline for him would still be decent, and this is where I remind you again that his UH Hobby School poll numbers were not in fact bad.
There is one person of interest whose numbers are not noted, but we do have them in this story.
Texas voters are almost evenly split on the question of whether Donald Trump should be allowed to mount a comeback, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Asked whether “Trump took actions as president that justify preventing him from holding future elected office,” 45% said he did and 48% said he did not. Not surprisingly, 84% of voters who identified themselves as Democrats say he did, and 81% of Republican voters say he didn’t. Among independent voters, 38% said barring Trump would be justified, and 47% said it would not be justified.
“Almost all of the Democrats say he should be barred, along with 13% of Republicans,” said Daron Shaw, co-director of the poll and a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
[…]
Trump is viewed about as favorably now in the state as he was in the UT/TT Poll in October 2020, right before the election: 46% of Texas voters view him favorably and 46% have an unfavorable opinion of the former president. In October, his favorable/unfavorable numbers were 49%-46%. And Trump remains in better light than he did right before his election four years ago. In an October 2016 UT/TT Poll, 31% of Texans had a positive opinion of him while 58% had a negative one.
“He has completely consolidated his Republican base in Texas,” Shaw said.
Well, he lost three points of favorability while his unfavorable rating remained the same. He’s a net zero, while Biden is a net plus one on his approval ratings. It could be worse, that’s all I can say. Note that we’re comparing “favorable/unfavorable” to “approve/disapprove” here, which isn’t quite the same thing but will have to do for these purposes.
Yoyo our man keep it up
This is the uproar that the 2018 Syrian bombing caused:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Apr 14, 2018
Here is the profound danger of what we just did in Syria: A ‘mad king’ President, with majority disapproval of Americans, just decided to bomb a nation without the Constitutional requirement of Congressional approval. Democrats who take war money passed the laws allowing that.
I’m not finding any of that for the 2/26/21 strikes on Syria. Even CNN is toned down saying house Democrats “question” these actions without congressional approval.
The point I bring up is not the fact that every president strikes without approval, the point is in the reporting in the media, there is a drastic difference.
I only chose AOC’S comment because I know she was vocal at the time, and finding a statement from her now is not as easy adds finding her statement then.
David, I know you worship the ground that your god-king walks on, but at least be truthful. It is not that difficult to find AOC criticize Biden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuE0ac3dhhE
That is but one source that I found.
Like Bill and Jason, you resort to lies to try to prove a point.
She was not the only Democrat to take Biden to task.
Manny,
For the record, I opposed Trump’s Syrian airstrike. He got pushed into it by the “it’s for the little chil’rens” people. That was one of his major mistakes, as was the bump stock ban. I was mad about both, and called Trump out on it at the time.
For the record.
But as we found out from Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink, endless wars are only bad if a Republican is doing the warring. Not to me, Manny. Syria is not our circus, not our monkeys. I’m proudly anti-war….as you SHOULD be, Manny.
Manny
Did you even watch the video you referenced? Some MannyQanon style masked guy that has 8 subscribers and 25 views? MannyQ, are you the guy behind the red mask, or just one of the 8 subscribers? Or, did you just find the headline and figured it fit the occasion? Or, is this your point of view of “different candidate, same puppet master”?
Here’s a pro-leftist meme that is actually funny, and on topic:
https://media.patriots.win/post/78EFLMEc.jpeg
I laughed.
Here’s another good one that skewers R’s and D’s alike:
https://media.patriots.win/post/PHVvxHXk.jpeg
Here is what Mickey Edwards, former GOP Rep. from Oklahoma and former CPAC chair, said about the current Republican Party:
“The Republican party really no longer stands for any kind of principles, conservative or otherwise,” Edwards told Burnett on Friday.
“The party seems now to be completely following the lead of one man wherever he goes, which is the definition of a cult,” he continued. “Now all that matters is, ‘Trump is for this, we’re for this.’ And that includes denying truth, denying fact, denying reality. It’s such a disconnect from what’s really happened in the world.”
Edwards said Republicans speaking at this year’s CPAC “are living in an alternate reality in which facts don’t matter, the Constitution doesn’t matter.”
He also minced no words when commenting on current ACU chair Matt Schlapp, who has bought into Trump’s mass voter fraud lie.
“He doesn’t have the job that I used to have because when I was head of CPAC, it was a group that was based on conservative principles,” said Edwards. “We were strong supporters of the Constitution. We believed in free elections. We believed in democracy. These people don’t believe in any of those things.”
“You know, they’re no different than the people who flock to other totalitarian leaders in other countries,” he added. “They’re no different than they are in Hungary, they’re no different than they used to be Germany. Whatever their great leader says, they do, and there’s no underpinning of fact, there’s no underpinning or concern about the norms of free democracy.”
This excerpt is from a HuffPost story about an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ex-cpac-chair-slams-trump-conference_n_6039f9cac5b617a7e40dcf05
David: Yes, I watched it, like I stated there are numerous other links. Did u bother to search?
Jen,
If the Democrat party became the only party of a former two party system, would that be good?
That’s why the two party system is so very close to what every American is truly afraid of, a one party system. With the continuing erosion of the Republican party, is the Democrat party the one left standing? The Democrat party now being the only party. Is the Republican party only here for people who won’t vote for the Democrats? That’s not voting for, but voting to oppose, something.
The Democrats need the Republican party and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Democrats help the Republicans remain viable somehow, but will continue to throw roadblocks in front of third party choices.
I really wanted to ask Biden some questions. Such as in just one month he killed 100,000 Covid victims. Trump took one year to kill 400,000, and Biden is now on track to kill 1,200,000 in one year. Does he wish to apologize for all of the killing he has done?
But, he wants everyone to wear a mask, although there is not much evidence that they do much. And, testing has plunged, why is nobody getting tested anymore? Why aren’t asymptomatic people being forced to get tested?
I also wanted to ask Biden to denounce his racist comments, and, get some more clarity about his recent comment that 2 or 3 out of every 5 or 6 TV ads show interracial couples. Was he trying to say that corporate America is trying to influence us? or just trying to go with the attitude spewing from hate based news like CNN and MSNBC.
I also wanted him to take a trip to the border to see the kids that he separated from their parents who are locked up in the detention center that he re-opened. I worked in a jail, and years ago, I said that we needed to have a family jail. A jail with no bad language, no guys shirtless in the cell blocks, no breaking the rules, and, when you came in to jail, they would go and get your parents, your spouse, your kids, and bring them all into jail with you. At the time, I was ridiculed for my progressive ideas.
Until the Republicans shed their cult and fascist followers, which are over 50% of the party, then yes the democrats controlling all levels of federal government would be fine. You seem to have no problem with Texas being a one party state.
David, you seem to have no problem with Texas being a one party state. Could it be because Republicans are the party of racists, bigots, and misogynists?
David, did you kneel before your golden statute of trump this morning to worship him?
I would like to see the POTUS visit Texas border towns, especially since immigration is such an important campaign issue.
FYI, Houston is a border town, technically as it is less than 100 miles from US border.
Biden won’t run again 2024, little early for him to campaign. From what I read Biden will spend next 2 years shoring up democratic party.
Yes, but I would like to see Biden do a photo in the detention centers that he re-opened. When Trump had them, they were termed as “concentration camps” by some.
Some Democrats do take issue with it, cause, unlike the Republicans that are lapdogs, Democrats tend to think for themselves. I will provide a link for you, the Trump lover. Do you have a golden statue of Trump you worship, Jason?
https://doscentavos.net/2021/02/24/biden-kiddie-jail-opens-in-south-texas/
Manny I would like to see Biden himself stand up and say that he (and Obama) support putting kids in cages away from their parents and then ridicule everyone who voted for them because they claimed that they did not support such abuse.
Then, I would like to see Biden himself stand up and apologize for all of his racist comments and denounce racism.
Then, I would like to see Biden himself stand up and take responsibility for 100,000 Covid deaths in one month. And then, to see him show us the science that wearing masks for 100 days makes any kind of difference. And also to see him explain why nobody is getting tested anymore, not at the rates that tests were done during the administration of my hero, Trump, when enormous case counts were reported from false positives and “asymptomatic” cases, and other people with no illness contributed to massive large numbers of cases.
Will they tear down Trump’s statue as well?
Finally I would like Biden to comment on his policy, “two weeks to flatten the curve, one year to flatten your business.”
“ I really wanted to ask Biden some questions. Such as in just one month he killed 100,000 Covid victims. Trump took one year to kill 400,000, and Biden is now on track to kill 1,200,000 in one year. Does he wish to apologize for all of the killing he has done?”
You really don’t understand how pandemics work, do you?
Jason, you really need help mentally.
You don’t make any sense.
I have no idea why you hate masks so much, I don’t like them, but I wear them on the few days that I go shopping, mostly for groceries. Since they now recommend two masks or an N95, I have purchased KN95 masks, and I do wear those now.
I even wash my hands before eating Jason. I will be surprised if you even wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
Jason, do you think the world is flat?
Jason, do you think we landed a man on the moon?
Jason, do you believe Democrats eat fetuses?
Why do you worship an idiot, Trump?
Isn’t it weird how Uncle Joe isn’t going to do a SOTU speech? Probably best that he doesn’t. How can we expect a dementia patient who is sundowning to give an hour and a half speech, especially when it is past his bedtime. He couldn’t even give a few remarks in Houston without bumbling it.
“What am I doing here?”
Joe Biden, Houston, TX speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyBMO8cK_pg
Isn’t it weird that the people attending CPAC have to kneel before the golden calf/trump?
https://youtu.be/4MyLwAokINc
Bill, Have you ever done any public speaking?
Never heard you mention Trump’s inability to pronounce works or complete sentences….smh
I can give you the key the understanding that in one word: projection.
Manny, I don’t know if the world is flat or not. Science is still evolving, and new discoveries come every day. The world may indeed be flat. I will wait and see what Fauci says today, on that topic.
I don’t wash my hands for twenty minutes as recommended, and don’t have hand sanitizer everywhere. I couldn’t wash my hands at all for a few days there. No water.
Not that I hate masks, but there is little evidence for their miraculous properties, that they will save tens of thousands of lives. In my neighborhood, the pandemic is over. The bars are packed to the gills. Everyone wears a mask to the door, but then sits there drinking for hours, with no masks! For hours!
I would say that I am tired of the masks littered everywhere. The city should send crews to clean them up, with Mayor Turner at the helm, picking up the most dead masks, more than the 12 dollar an hour workers. Also, I am tired of seeing everyone looking like they have a little bag full of puke strapped to their faces. It looks dumb.And of TV shows with characters wearing them, and late night ads for copper infused masks. Also, sick of seeing people walking alone or in cars alone wearing them. I saw a car bashed in the front, with a mask hanging from its mirror. I saw a guy on a motorcycle with a mask but no helmet! How’s that for Operation Stay Safe?
Masks make it hard to talk, they start sliding off and everyone adjusts them, putting schmaltz on their faces, just like Fauci said. I get sick of riding there on a bicycle, and then I am soggy with sweat, or snot rolling out of my nose in the cold, and then I gotta put on a mask to go in the store, and wear this sodden rag.
They just don’t do much, and I know that Pres. Biden never had the capacity to search Pub Med and read papers about masks. I remember in the debate, Pres. Trump said, “Joe, you aren’t smart.” Now, especially, Biden lacks the intellectual ability to search and read papers. And he doesn’t read the Bible which states “Who lights a lamp and places it under a bushel basket?” The Good Book also states “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”
Although you wouldn’t know it from the Red Alert that was never removed by the county Covid warning system, or from the media, the hospitalizations and deaths have dropped precipitously, way more the models expected. Likely Covid has become endemic or we have reached some level of herd immunity.
I do need mental help, because the media has caused me great distress. I wouldn’t be surprised if they somehow arranged for the police to murder a minority so that they could inspire the rage. They set back race relations by decades. For all my life, I have co-existed happily with people of all races, as classmates, neighbors, co-workers, friends. Bought from businesses owned by people of all races, dated women of all races. Now, I feel awkward, as if I must apologize for things that took place one hundred years before I was born, before any of my ancestors came to the US. That I should try to be less “white,” or that I should try to feel guilty. I am afraid that I could inadvertently say the wrong thing, and then be cancelled, imprisoned, banished. Yes, they have messed up race relations, and created division, for their benefit.
We must preserve our freedom. We are one of the small minority of people on the planet who have (had) personal freedom. Think of an abusive relationship. You let your abuser do something, and the abuser will take a little more. Then, will promise not to do it again, but will still take more. If we let them, they’ll have us wear masks and be silenced forever.
Jason, stay away from the internet.
What freedoms Jason? We are allowed to do what the laws allow.
Wonder why doctors wear masks when performing surgery?
Jason you are persistent with your lies.
Manny, we were endowed with our freedoms by our Creator. Government makes the laws, which reduce our freedoms.
Like you, I wonder why doctors wear masks when performing surgery. There are many, many studies I’ve found that show no difference in wound infection rates with or without masks. Here’s a link to one, since you won’t look this up on your own:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20575920/
There are many others that show no benefit to masks in surgery. Mind you, surgery is looking at preventing bacterial infections. How much bigger are bacteria vs. viruses? Is it 10x, 50x, 100x? I’m not sure but by and large, bacteria are much bigger than viruses.
The Science shows no efficacy for masks. I am sick of being treated like a diseased leper. By wearing a mask, I don’t stop myself from spreading Covid, unless I have Covid, which I don’t.
Jason, you did mention that it was a study for wound infections only, which would be bacteria-related. Viruses can vary from 10 to 100 times smaller. So, I am not sure that you can use that study or similar studies as guides for a virus.
Not sure why you claim that science shows that masks do not work, the CDC, MAYO Clinic, then there is the following
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7253999/