CMA gives approval to £54billion tech tie-up

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter

Published: 17:20 EDT, 21 August 2023 | Updated: 17:20 EDT, 21 August 2023

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A former Clinton pollster is calling Joe Biden‘s re-election ‘virtually impossible’ as the president faces a historic low approval rating of 33 percent that is even worse among Independents and Republicans.

Biden’s approval with Independents is 26 percent and just a paltry three percent of Republicans say he is doing a good job.

‘These are spectacularly low numbers,’ said Mark Penn, the founder of PSB Insights and a former Hillary Clinton campaign pollster.

‘To really get down to it, only a third being favorable and in the 20s on independents, of course makes [Biden’s] reelection a virtual impossibility. 

‘The administration has got to pivot or this is going to be a tornado of a midterms if these numbers continue to hold up,’ Penn said Thursday during an appearance on Fox News.

Biden has faced multiple crises during his first year in office, from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to inflation and surging gas prices, which the Biden administration has blamed on ‘Putin’s Price Hike’ after the US sanctioned Russian oil companies in response to the invasion on Ukraine. 

Penn says the president has had more than enough time to build goodwill with the American people.

‘The administration has got to pivot or this is going to be a tornado of a midterms if these numbers continue to hold up. And frankly, they’ve had month after month here to do something to turn around on inflation, on immigration, on Ukraine, on crime. And they just haven’t done it.’

Penn, who has become a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump in recent years, said the administration has to ‘signal big changes’ in energy and ‘OK some pipelines.’  

He added: ‘On immigration, they’ve got to close the border and signal they really want comprehensive immigration reform. Bring that back. Be a leader in that.

‘On crime, they need to show that, look, if local DAs won’t do the job, the feds will step in.

‘They should back another 100,000 cops like we did in the Clinton administration.

‘And in the Ukraine, be definitive, send the jets.’ 

Biden’s approval stands at 33 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. 

This is the second time Biden has been rated this low in this particular survey, with the first time occurring in January.

The Democratic president is seen in a drastically different light depending on respondents’ political affiliation, with independents giving him an approval rating of 26 percent. 

Seventy-six per cent of Democrats, on the other hand, approve of the job Biden is doing, while just 12 percent disapprove. At the same time, just 3 percent of Republicans surveyed approve of the job Biden is doing, while a whopping 94 percent disapprove. 

Biden gets graded slightly higher when Americans were asked specifically about his handling of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. 

Thirty nine percent of Americans said they approved of Biden’s handling of the response, while another 48 percent disapprove.   

Americans, generally, want the US to do more – with 68 percent agreeing that the US has a moral responsibility to do more to stop Russian forces from killing civilians in Ukraine. Another 24 percent disagree with that statement. 

Seventy-four per cent of Americans said they believed that the worst is yet to come in Ukraine.  

Mark Thiessen, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, told Fox that the war in Ukraine is just one of the factors affecting Biden’s chance at another term.

‘He’s facing a perfect trifecta here where people disapprove of his handling of the inflation, they disapprove of his handling of Ukraine and they disapprove of his presidency. That is deadly for him.’

The Quinnipiac survey is on the lower end of recent polling on Biden’s approval rating. 

The Real Clear Politics polling average has Biden’s approval rating standing at 40.6 percent. A FiveThirtyEight aggregate poll shows an approval rating of 41.5 percent.

On Thursday, Biden flew to North Carolina to tout efforts to strengthen supply chains as he seeks to fight back from opinion polls.

After visiting Iowa on Tuesday, it marks his heaviest week of domestic travel for months.

And six months out from midterm elections, it is part of a gamble that the White House can break through voter skepticism with smaller, granular announcements after ditching last year’s bold talk of a transformational agenda, which ultimately failed to make it through Congress. 

The visit was part of an effort to apply pressure on Congress to approve the Bipartisan Innovation Act, which aims to increase funding for domestic production of semiconductors. 

During a speech in Greensboro on Thursday, Biden looked lost again after speaking on the nation’s ongoing supply chain crisis.

He turned around and stuck his hand out as if to shake hands – but there was no one else on stage. 

The 79-year-old president claimed before the handshake fiasco that he had served as a ‘full professor’ at the University of Pennsylvania despite never teaching a class at the school, in yet another gaffe that has Republicans questioning Biden’s cognitive abilities.

Last week, Biden looked disoriented during an event that saw former President Barack Obama visit the White House for the first time since leaving office. 

Footage from the Thursday event shows Biden ending the speech in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the signoff ‘God bless you all’  before turning to his right and seemingly saying something to the empty space behind him and miming a handshake. 

The Democrat proceeds to frantically look around the stage with a bewildered look on his face before beginning to wander aimlessly around the crowded auditorium. 

Biden is facing multiple issues ahead of this year’s midterms and a possible run for reelection in 2024.

Inflation, one key issue affecting Biden’s chances, has hit a 41-year high of 8.5 percent.

The inflation data released on Tuesday is the first report to capture the full effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent gas prices skyrocketing 49 percent in March, compared to the same time a year ago. 

Rising housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, are also fueling inflation as rents soar across the country.   

The latest data showed the price of basic necessities rising sharply, with groceries up 10 percent from a year ago, rent rising 4.4 percent, clothing up 6.8 percent, and energy costs rising 32 percent. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during Monday’s briefing that the White House expected ‘headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin ‘s price hike.’

Inflation has become a top political threat to Biden and congressional Democrats as the crucial November midterm elections draw closer. Small business owners now say in surveys that it’s their primary economic concern, too. 

Though Biden insists that his policies aren’t to blame for soaring prices, Republican critics have been quick to point the finger at his administration and Democrats in Congress.  

‘Prices are up, real wages are down, and families and small businesses are being left behind in Biden’s economy,’ said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a statement responding to the latest inflation reading.

‘Democrats’ reckless spending and failed policies have crushed Americans, and they don’t seem to care. Voters do care, and they will be sending a message in November,’ added McDaniel.

White House economic advisor Jesse Lee responded in a tweet saying that Republicans who blame Biden for inflation are ‘fully in lockstep’ with Putin.

Most voters were happy with the debt ceiling bill and wanted to see it pass Congress – even though more conservative lawmakers railed against Speaker Kevin McCarthy for striking the deal with President Joe Biden.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows that McCarthy’s approval rating has jumped by 10 percent since the beginning of the year – and after he reached the deal with the president to raise the debt ceiling.

The results are indicative of Americans’ desire to see more bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., while members of McCarthy’s own party lamented the bill and slammed the Speaker for agreeing to it.

The California lawmaker’s prominence in striking the deal is likely contributing to his polling jump from 40 percent approval in January to 50 percent approval in the survey conducted May 30 through June 1.

Thirty-nine percent of the 1,012 likely voters polled view McCarthy unfavorably and 11 percent aren’t sure how they feel about the Republican House Speaker.

Multiple conservative members of the House and Republican members of the Senate were not happy with McCarthy striking the deal with Biden and claimed that the provisions don’t go far enough.

Additionally, 69 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans voters said that they are in favor of Congress passing the compromise bill.

President Biden on Saturday signed a bill that lifts the U.S. government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, averting what would have been a first-ever federal default.

The House of Representatives and the Senate passed the legislation last week after Biden and McCarthy reached an agreement following months of tense negotiations.

The Treasury Department had warned it would be unable to pay all its bills on Monday if Congress failed to act by then, which would have triggered an unprecedented default.

The White House released a 10-second video clip of Biden signing the bill in the Oval Office, but opted to avoid the type of public ceremony that often accompanies the signing of hard-fought measures.

Republicans had refused to raise the country’s borrowing limit unless Democrats agreed to cut spending, leading to a standoff that was not resolved until weeks of intense negotiations between the White House and McCarthy.

The final agreement, passed by the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday, suspends the debt limit until 2025 – after the next presidential election – and restricts government spending. 

It gives lawmakers budget targets for the next two years in hopes of assuring fiscal stability as the political season heats up.

Raising the nation’s debt limit, now at $31.4 trillion, will ensure that the government can borrow to pay debts already incurred.

‘Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher,’ Biden said in a speech from the Oval Office on Friday evening. ‘Nothing would have been more catastrophic,’ he said, than defaulting on the country’s debt.

‘No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed,’ Biden said, highlighting the ‘compromise and consensus’ in the deal. ‘We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse.’

‘Our economy would have been thrown in recession,’ Biden intoned in a low voice.

He also used the address to pledge to go after ‘tax cheats’ and hike taxes on the wealthy, even after Republican negotiators nixed his revenue proposals as a way to pay for spending that gets trimmed under the deal.

‘We also have to raise revenue to go after tax cheats and make sure everybody’s paying their fair share,’ Biden said.

He repeated his pledge not to hike taxes on people earning more than $400,000 per year, and defended a boost in funds for IRS audits and technology – although the debt deal actually pares back an $80 billion infusion by about $20 billion. 

He also called for closing ‘special interest tax loopholes for big oil, crypto traders, hedge fund billionaires, saving taxpayers billions of dollars.’

‘Republicans defended every single one of these special interest loopholes. Every single one. But I’m going to come back with your help. I’m going to win,’ he vowed – although to become law the legislation must originate in the Republican-dominated House.

Biden also used the opportunity to itemize the achievements of his first term as he runs for reelection, including support for high-tech manufacturing, infrastructure investments and financial incentives for fighting climate change. He also highlighted ways he blunted Republican efforts to roll back his agenda and achieve deeper cuts.

‘We´re cutting spending and bringing deficits down at the same time,’ Biden said. ‘We’re protecting important priorities from Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid to veterans to our transformational investments in infrastructure and clean energy.’

Biden’s remarks were the most detailed comments from the Democratic president on the compromise he and his staff negotiated. 

He largely remained quiet publicly during the high-stakes talks, a decision that frustrated some members of his party but was intended to give space for both sides to reach a deal and for lawmakers to vote it to his desk.

Biden praised McCarthy and his negotiators for operating in good faith, and all congressional leaders for ensuring swift passage of the legislation. ‘They acted responsibly, and put the good of the country ahead of politics,’ he said.

Overall, the 99-page bill restricts spending for the next two years and changes some policies, including imposing new work requirements for older Americans receiving food aid and greenlighting an Appalachian natural gas pipeline that many Democrats oppose. 

Some environmental rules were modified to help streamline approvals for infrastructure and energy projects – a move long sought by moderates in Congress.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates it could actually expand total eligibility for federal food assistance, with the elimination of work requirements for veterans, homeless people and young people leaving foster care.

The legislation also bolsters funds for defense and veterans, cuts back some new money for the Internal Revenue Service and rejects Biden’s call to roll back Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and the wealthy to help cover the nation´s deficits. 

But the White House said the IRS’ plans to step up enforcement of tax laws for high-income earners and corporations would continue.

The agreement imposes an automatic overall 1% cut to spending programs if Congress fails to approve its annual spending bills – a measure designed to pressure lawmakers of both parties to reach consensus before the end of the fiscal year in September.

In both chambers, more Democrats backed the legislation than Republicans, but both parties were critical to its passage. 

In the Senate the tally was 63-36 including 46 Democrats and independents and 17 Republicans in favor, 31 Republicans along with four Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats opposed.

The vote in the House was 314-117.