by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch | The Hill
A FRESH POLL from The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College brought more bad news for President Biden as he struggles to catch up to Trump in the key battleground states that will decide November’s election. The Hill’s Brett Samuels and Julia Manchester report the poll found Trump leading in five out of six swing states, with Wisconsin the lone place where Biden is ahead. More concerning for the incumbent is that the poll found the president is losing support among young voters and Black and Hispanic voters, all of whom are critical to his coalition to win reelection.
“With the usual stipulations about polls six months out, Biden is behind,” said Jim Kessler, co-founder of the left-leaning think tank Third Way. “They need to be in a better place on the border, crime and inflation to win. They have a story to tell on each and further actions they can take, but they need to get cracking.”
That same poll found Democratic Senate candidates in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin lead their Republican rivals and are running well ahead of Biden in key states where he continues to struggle. The battleground surveys indicate that his lagging poll numbers against Trump may not be enough to sink other Democrats, especially Senate incumbents who are facing lesser-known Republicans.
Still, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports Senate Democrats have downplayed the political threat they face this year over the huge surge of migrants across the southern border, but their recent actions show they are increasingly nervous about the potential political liability of the issue. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the Senate Democrats’ most vulnerable incumbent, on Thursday became the first in his conference to co-sponsor the Laken Riley Act after voting against it as an amendment in March. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has stepped up his messaging on border security, repeatedly addressing it on the Senate floor, and Biden has announced executive action on immigration policy.
“Democrats realize on the border and immigration, you need to talk about that,” said one Democratic strategist. “You can’t just not talk about that. I’ll be interested in seeing what the Biden team does on executive actions. I think it can be helpful.”