New Harvard-Harris Poll: Biden Presidency Growing Weaker

Harvard Harris Poll Debrief with Mark Penn and Bob Cusack

Each month, Mark Penn, Harris Poll Chairman and Stagwell Chairman & CEO and Bob Cusack, Editor-in-Chief of The Hill, discuss the latest Harvard-Harris Poll. The latest poll was conducted January 20-21 among 2,000 registered voters nationwide. For regular updates, follow @Mark_Penn_Polls on Twitter, @mark-penn-polls on LinkedIn, @MarkPennPolls on Facebook and @mark_penn_polls on Instagram.
Bob Cusack:
Mark, some interesting polling here, Harvard Harris, if you had to sum it up in one word, what would that word be?
Mark Penn:
Well, "divot" would be my word because I called on the president to pivot, and instead he dug a divot, meaning he just swung his club exactly the same place that he did before, expecting a different result. And he doubled down on a strategy that is failing, and his presidency grows weaker and weaker.
Bob Cusack:
Looking at some of the data here, I mean, 63% wrong track on the economy. That's pretty bad for the president. His COVID numbers, not as bad as some of these other issues like crime, which 64% believe is increasing in big cities. His head-to-head numbers with Trump, Trump at 53, Biden at 47, as far as who's a better president. And I think it's fascinating that independents, 55% say Trump better president than Biden, and Trump's suburban numbers are better than Biden's. And that's part of the reason that Joe Biden is president is because of the suburbs.
Bob Cusack:
And heading into the midterms, what were your kind of just takeaways of the biggest issues or problems this president has? I mean, this is wintertime for Democrats without a doubt. The summertime was much better. The winter has been really rough for the president.
Mark Penn:
Well, I think the president is facing personal questions, because 61% say that he is too old. And when I ask people what concerns them the most about the president, people say, "Whether or not he's competent." And so I think this presidency is stripped to the bone in terms of this basic question, can the president effectively serve the nation? And that's a problem. I mean, I've never quite seen that before, in the worst days of Clinton or Obama. Trump, of course there were a lot of questions about his mental fitness for office, but they actually never amounted to 61%. So I think that's a core question before you even get to what I'd say is the kind of foreign policy, domestic policy and legislative policy, right?
Mark Penn:
And so on a foreign policy point of view, Afghanistan was a disaster. It continues to get 30, 31% approval. And now we're heading into a potential Ukraine disaster. President said, "Well, maybe if they took a little, it would be not, who knows?" And that left a remarkable opening for Putin. I can't imagine, and I always hate saying this because other people do, I can't imagine if Trump had said that. I just can't imagine what the headlines would have been. If Trump had said, "Well, he could take a little bit of the Ukraine."