Harris admitted that Americans are "still hurting." Though she promised that Biden is "fully aware" of the polling and will offer "solutions" to Americans’ "everyday burdens."
CBS News anchor Gayle King speaks to Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden's State of the Union address. (Screenshot/CBS)
BIDEN REPEATEDLY FELL SHORT OF PROMISES HE MADE IN 2022 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
After Harris told King about the successful bipartisan agenda that Biden has pursued as president, which he touted in his speech, the anchor responded by mentioning how many Americans don’t feel the success that the Biden administration does.
King claimed, "Madam Vice President, you laid out nicely what your administration has accomplished and did it in great detail. The thing is, the latest poll show Americans still think the economic policies are making their lives worse, that they don’t feel better off."
She added, "We know the laundry list of all the things that have been accomplished but yet, for some reason, for many people, the message is not translating. What do you say to that? What are you doing about that?"
The Vice President shifted blame to events outside the administration’s control. She said, "Listen, I think that we have to really understand that we went through a historic pandemic which resulted in the loss of almost a million lives. People lost their jobs. They lost a sense of normalcy. Children lost very significant gaps in terms of educational process. And the effects of all of that linger."
BIDEN PLAGUED BY NEGATIVE APPROVAL RATINGS AHEAD OF SECOND STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH
President Joe Biden arrives to deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Tuesday, Feb 7, 2023, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin)
Harris acknowledged that "there is still work to be done" and that Biden is "fully aware of that."
King simply responded, saying, "All of us have more work to be done on many, many issues but that’s a whole ‘nother story."
During "Good Morning America," Stephanopoulos embarked on a similar line of questioning. Remarking on Harris’ point that Biden is trying to solve differences between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, the anchor said, "The problems aren’t just inside that chamber, though. The President also facing a skeptical public. The majority don’t think they’re better off since he took office and majority don’t approve of the job he’s doing."
Again, Harris acknowledged the poor polling, saying, "Well, listen, there’s no question and, again, the President spoke about this and it’s on his mind every day, people are still hurting in America."
As with King, Harris blamed the pandemic for most of the problems Americans are frustrated over. "As he started his presentation last night, talking about the fact that we’ve come out of an historic pandemic, the economic crisis that resulted, supply chain crisis that resulted. You look at the cost of milk and eggs, it’s about $4 and quarter I think on average in the country."
Harris added, "So yeah people are still hurting, and we still have work to do."