Pollster Lee Carter revealed during a Fox News segment on Friday morning that President Joe Biden, in the eyes of voters, “torched” his campaign message about running to try to unite the country.
Carter said that Democrats were largely willing to give Biden a pass for problems he encountered during the press conference because they did not view him as “dangerous.” Carter said independents were very concerned with what they saw because they had doubts about his ability to fix problems. Republicans, based on the grades they gave Biden, were appalled by what they saw.
Independents and Republicans both gave Biden an F on remarks he made about Trump because Biden’s remarks “really torched his message of unity.”
“He says he’s a president for unity,” Carter said. “And yet he says I don’t even know if there’s a Republican Party. He was completely dismissive of Donald Trump, laughed at him. And I think that’s it sort of came to the front… how he really feels about the other side. And it didn’t it go well for him.”
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FOX NEWS 1: President Biden finally holding his first formal news conference yesterday in the East Room, 64 days after taking office.
FOX NEWS 2: He took questions on major issues like the border, ending the filibuster, and whether he will run for re election.
FOX NEWS 3: Here with the top takeaways partner and president of Maslansky+Partners, Lee Carter. Lee, good morning to you, you have some grades for us, how voters felt about various moments during the press conference, let’s take a look at some of these individual moments and you tell us how they graded with the voters out there. First, there was this moment right here, when he was asked if the reason that the migrant surge is occurring is because he’s such a decent and moral man, here was his response.
[START VIDEO]
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT: I should be flattered. People are coming because I’m the nice guy. That’s the reason why it’s happening. That I’m a decent man or however it’s phrased that you know, that’s why they’re coming because they know Biden’s a good guy. … The vast majority. The overwhelming majority of people coming to the border crossing are being sent back.
[END VIDEO]
FOX NEWS 3: So Lee, how did voters grade that moment?
LEE CARTER, POLLSTER: Well, look, I mean, I continue to say that Democrats are from Mars and Republicans are from Venus. You can see a complete different reaction. Democrats gave this a ‘B,’ Independents a ‘D,’ and Republicans an ‘F.’ I’m not surprised Republicans are rejecting this. And democrats are basically giving him the benefit doubt. I’m laser focused on those Independents. And I think they are very skeptical of Joe Biden’s response here. They wanted answers on the border. They know that people aren’t coming through because he’s a decent guy. They know, it’s because he’s loosening policies and there’s a problem there. They wanted answers, and they didn’t feel satisfied with his answer.
FOX NEWS 1: Alright, something else Lee that we were talking about earlier, was just the fact that a number of times Joe Biden was talking and then he kind of ran out of words or ran out of gas, he hit some kind of conversational cul-de-sacs. Here’s one of them. When he was talking about the filibuster, and watch the grades, Democrats are the blue line, the Republicans have the red line, and the Independents are the yellow line.
[START VIDEO]
BIDEN: I’m going to say something outrageous. I have never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States Senate. So the best way to get something done, if you, if you hold near and dear to you, that you, uh, um, like to be able to, uh, anyway. … We’re ready to get a lot done.
[END VIDEO]:
Okay, so we’re gonna get a lot done. But when you look at the grades, even though he stalled out there Democrats gave him in ‘A.’
CARTER: They sure did. Democrats gave him an ‘A,’ Independents a ‘C,’ Republicans a ‘D.’ The thing is, Democrats are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. They see that he stalled out there, they’re willing to accept this, and the way they interpreted this is, you know, I’m fine watching this, I’m bored, he’s not dangerous. They’re OK with it. Independents and Republicans are not. They’re concerned. They’re looking at this and saying, what’s going on here? This is a big deal, we want answers and he seems not to be able to be up to the task. Very different reactions depending on how you view the president to begin with.
FOX NEWS 2: So…another question that was asked of him was whether he was going to run for office again. So let’s take a look at that clip.
[START VIDEO]
REPORTER 1: Have you decided whether you are going to run for reelection in 2024? You haven’t set up a reelection campaign yet, as your predecessor had by this time.
BIDEN: My predecessor need to, needed to. My predecessor. Oh God, I miss him. No, the answer is yes. My plan is to run for reelection. That’s my expectation.
REPORTER 2: Do you believe you’ll be running against former President Trump?
BIDEN: Oh, come on. I don’t even think about, I don’t. I have no idea. I have no idea whether they’ll be a Republican Party.
[END VIDEO]
FOX NEWS 2: Lee, why did Independents give him an ‘F’ on this?
CARTER: Because it really torched his message of unity. He says he’s a president for unity. And yet he says I don’t even know if there’s a Republican Party. He was completely dismissive of Donald Trump, laughed at him. And I think that’s it sort of came to the front… how he really feels about the other side. And it didn’t it go well for him.