The New York Times commissioned a focus group of 14 independent voters to get their thoughts on how Democrat President Joe Biden is doing in office, and the results were not pretty.
All of the independents in the group were people who had voted for President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump. The survey comes as Biden’s approval rating continues to plummet, including a shocking 33% in a left-of-center mainstream poll last week.
“As is customary in focus groups, our role as moderators was not to argue with or fact-check the speakers, and some participants expressed opinions not rooted in facts,” the Times reported. “The discussions are led by professional focus group leaders; with guidance from Times Opinion, [Frank] Luntz chose the participants and led this discussion. (Times Opinion paid him for the work, and he has done similar work over the years for political candidates and partisan groups.)”
Findings included:
- When the participants were asked to describe life in America today, they responded by saying, “Divided,” “Dismal,” “Disappointment,” “Indescribable,” “New normal,” “Burned out,” “Stressful,” and “Lost.”
- When asked if they thought that the country was at “the lowest point” they’ve ever seen, six out of 14 raised their hands.
- Twelve of the 14 independents raised their hands when asked if they thought “the level of crime is up in America today, versus a year ago.”
- Many of the independents blamed local officials, like district attorneys, for the rise in crime.
- Six of the 14 raised their hands when they were asked if they were so concerned about things that they were “literally” losing sleep at night. Their worries ranged from the pandemic to economic security, and general frustration over the state of politics.
- The majority of the independents had a negative view, eight of 14, of Dr. Anthony Fauci, while only 5 had positive views.
- When asked to describe Biden, the independents said, “Complete disaster,” “Puppet,” “Detached,” “Clueless,” “Pathetic,” “Incoherent,” “Out of touch,” “Functional adult,” “Just calmness.”
- When asked for further thoughts, one independent said Biden was too much of a “nice guy,” while another said she had “questions about his mental health.”
- When asked if anyone thought that Biden had “exceeded” their “expectations,” no one raised their hands.
- When asked about whether Biden could do better in his second year, one person said, “You can’t really do much worse.”
- Eight of the 14 said they wanted Republicans in control of Congress while only five said that they wanted Democrats in charge. One person said they wanted to send a message with their vote that Democrats were “nuts at the moment,” while another said that the far-Left had “taken over” the party.
- Eleven of the 14 independents said that they did not think Biden could get the pandemic under control, while only two said they thought he could.
- When asked how many were “confident that President Biden and the Democrats have a plan to improve the economy, to deal with inflation,” no one raised their hands.
- When asked what they would tell Biden, they said, “No vaccine mandates,” “Get rid of your staff,” “No lockdowns, no more lockdowns,” “Fix the crime rate,” “Take action and be honest and go for it,” “Start regulating the ports,” “Get the border under control and take it much more seriously than you are currently,” “Please be moderate, like you used to be, and don’t tell me that I have to wear a mask anymore.”