Voters can be fickle, as every politician knows. One minute they love you, the next minute – well, not so much. In relatively short order, Americans are registering displeasure with the newly minted president's executive orders and possible plans. Here are the top three that take win, place, and show in this week's race card.
For the Win: The Keystone Pipeline
Heralded on "day one" as repudiating Donald Trump, President Joe Biden blocked the Keystone XL pipeline's further construction. One would think those 80 million who voted for Biden would be jumping for joy. But it appears this is not sitting too well with likely voters. A new survey from Rasmussen Reports finds "only 36% of Likely U.S. Voters think it is a good idea to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport oil from Canada to the U.S." Just in case the new administration wants further evidence, another 60% of voters said they oppose halting construction because gas prices are likely to rise.
Indeed, Americans appear to have put one and one together and come up with two – something the new administration might want to consider when people turn against its policies. That will likely occur when the voters feel the sting of three and four dollars per gallon at the pumps this summer.
Biden folks could always point to the silver lining in this survey. A whopping 8% say the repeal of the Keystone pipeline order will "lead to lower gas prices." More sarcasm coming right up …
For Place: The Country's Direction
How do the American people feel regarding the country's direction after just one week of a Biden administration? Hold on to your race card: Yet another Rasmussen survey found only 21% approve. When asked whether the country was headed in the right direction, 72% said no. "A year ago at this time, 45% said the United States was heading in the right direction," asserted Rasmussen. For comparison, it also pointed out, "This is the lowest number since President Trump was elected four years ago."
For Show: Immigration
Another Rasmussen poll conducted on Friday, Jan. 22, was headlined, "By 2 to 1 Margin, Voters Want Migrant Caravan Stopped at the Border." To be fair, the new president is hemming and hawing and has thus far done nothing to encourage the annual caravan to keep trekking toward the U.S.-Mexican border. That's probably a wise lack of action. Rasmussen's survey on immigration reveals that 60% of likely U.S. voters say the caravan should be halted at the border. This is the same border that was the subject of yet another executive order by the new commander in chief. Biden's day-one EO stopped the building of the border wall.
Speaking of halting wall construction, voters appear evenly divided over that edict: 48% say it's a poor move, but 45% like the idea.
It isn't easy to correlate these figures with what the legacy media are reporting as Biden’s widespread popularity. Could it be they like the man but not his policies? Similarly, was it Trump the man that voters repudiated and not his policies? Many would argue that all this depends upon an accurate portrait of the November election. However, that battle has been fought and Biden declared the winner. Such as it is, these polls and future ones will reveal what the public wants, and prudence dictates that the new administration should be judicious in overturning policies from the Trump era.
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Read more from Leesa K. Donner.
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