(CNSNews.com) - White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday defended President Biden’s recent poll numbers that show a majority of Americans don’t find Biden honest and trustworthy, competent and effective, able to handle a crisis, and being mentally and physically fit to be president as well as a recent Associated Press survey that shows the majority of Democrats don’t want Biden to run for re-election because of his age.
“A number of surveys, including from the AP, over the weekend showed that a majority of Democrats don’t want the president to seek reelection. They’re looking for a new generation and have concerns about his age. Without getting into whether or not the president will announce, does the president believe that he has to address those concerns from his own constituents?” Associated Press White House Correspondent Zeke Miller asked.
JEAN-PIERRE: So, as you just laid out, I’m going to be very careful; covered by the Hatch Act. Don’t want to get into the specifics of what 2024 is going to look like or any underlying components of that. The president has been very clear. He intends to run, and, you know, I think the way that we should look at this is what we saw from the midterms. Right?
I think that’s a really important point there, where the president laid out the policy, right? He’s the one that laid out the policy for senators and congressional members to really have a midterms that did not lead to a red wave, right? We saw what happened in the Senate. We saw that, yes, Republicans now have Congress, but by a slim majority.
We were told it was going to be more than 60 seats, and it’s not that at all, and that’s because the President went out there, spoke directly to the American people, and laid out what it is that we have done the last two years — how we’ve built — you’ve heard from Brian Deese just moments ago.
He took many, many questions, laying out the president’s economic plan, how it’s working, but how there’s still more work to do, but essentially, talking through the different policies — the different policies that became — that became legislation, that turned into law. That was — that was historic, and all of those pieces matter.
And I think, in the State of the Union, he’ll have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people, not just congre- — not just Congress, to talk about what we have done the last — what he has done the last two years and how he sees the future of this country, and so, I’m not going to get into what the person — what the president should respond to.
I think, you know, the president always says this: Watch him. Watch him and see what he does, and I think he has a record over the last two years that shows that he has delivered, and that’s the numbers that we’re going to pay attention to. Right?
We’re going to pay attention to unemployment, how it’s been down more than in 53 years, a historic unemployment. We’re going to pay attention to more than almost 12 million jobs that has been created under this president. We’re going to pay attention to the 800,000 manufacturing jobs that has been created under this president, and I think that’s what we’re going to continue to work on and that’s what we’re going to continue to speak to.
“So I wonder if I could follow up a little bit on Zeke’s third question. I think you made the assertion that the reason that there wasn’t a red wave or the reason that the elections and the midterms were more successful than many people thought they would be for Democrats was because of the president,” a reporter asked. “Is that — that’s a fair —”
JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, and we’ve said that before. It’s noth- — it’s nothing new. We think —
REPORTER: So, like —
JEAN-PIERRE: — we think the President played a very big role in laying out the message for Democrats.
REPORTER: So I wonder how, in light of the following poll, you can make that assertion. This is a recent NBC poll: Is Biden honest and trustworthy? 34 percent, yes; 48 percent, no.
Ability to handle a crisis: 30 percent — 32 percent, yes; 49 percent, no. Competent and effective: 31 percent, yes; 49 percent, no. Has the necessary mental and physical health to be president: 28 percent, yes; 54 percent, no. Uniting the country: 23 percent, yes; 50 percent, no.
I mean, given that poll, which, you know, is not just a single poll, it’s been — you know, versions of that had been repeated in poll after poll, survey after survey since the midterm elections and before, and I think one of my colleagues referenced a recent poll that said 60-something percent — more Democrats don’t want President Biden to be their nominee than Republicans don’t want President Trump to be their nominee.
So, given all of that, why are you so convinced that it was President Biden that caused the Democratic success in the midterms and not that the Democrats had success in spite of the president?
JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I’ll say this: Because if you look at what candidates — senators and congressional members — ran on, it was the successes that the president had. It was on the bipartisan infrastructure legislation. It was on the CHIPS and Science — and Science Act, which was bipartisan because of — the president was able to make that happen. It was because of the Inflation Reduction Act.
If you hear the message that was coming out of Democrats during the midterms, it was what we were able to deliver. So, yes — so that’s what they used. Right? They used exactly what the president was able to do in order to get that success, and so —
REPORTER: So that —
JEAN-PIERRE: It is — right? — if you think about all of the pieces of — of historic legislation that became law, clearly, that — that we did last year, again, the president led that, and the president went out there and spoke on these very important pieces of historical legislation.
When you think about what it’s done for the economy, what it’s done for the American people, how it’s provided some relief: Yeah, I think the president did play a big role.
REPORTER: So, then, just one quick follow-up. I mean — I mean, I guess does it suggest then that maybe the Democrats who were talking about the president’s agenda have been more successful at talking about the president’s agenda than the president himself has been?
And does that make it all the more important tomorrow and — and whatever — whenever the president rolls out his election — re-election campaign, if he does — but does it make it that much more important for the President to somehow find a way to communicate as effectively as, I guess, some of these other Democrats were? Because, obviously, however — however he’s communicating now isn’t translating into his own successes.
JEAN-PIERRE: I’ll say this, Michael — and Brian — and Brian spoke to this — right? — I think he got this question every which way from — from your colleagues, and a very important question to ask, but I’ll say this: We understand and it is true that the American people are feeling — are feeling inflation.
They’re feeling what the pandemic and COVID has — has done — right? — the last two, three years, and so we understand that they’re going to have some feelings about the economy right now, and so that is something that the president has always acknowledged and has said, “There’s always more work to do,” but also, the reality is, if you look at the data, if you look at how the economy has bounced back because of this work that the president has done — and Brian spoke to this.
I have spoken to this — when you think about record 12 million jobs, when you think about unemployment at the lowest that it’s been in 54 years, when you think about the 800,000 manufacturing jobs and how important the CHIPS and Science Act is going to continue to be as we see manufacturers coming back to the U.S — those are real data points, right?
Those are real things that has occurred these past two years, and it’s because of the president, and so, look, we get where the American people are, but what we are going to focus on is — are the numbers that I just laid out, and that is also important.
Will we continue to need to talk directly to the American people? Absolutely. That’s why the State of the Union — we see it as an important moment to lay out — for the president to lay out how he sees the country moving forward and also to remind folks and lay out what he has done the last two years.
There’s no easy answer there. I get where you’re getting to, but this is an incredibly complicated time. What the president is going to focus on is how he’s going to continue to deliver for the American people.