31separate session, a Biden voter from Kentucky said,
“I had high hopes for him in the beginning, but
he seems more and more not in control. You see
him walk around, he kind of shuffles, like a great-
grandparent. He just is not that sharp.”Many DeMocrats argue that Biden’s low ratings
stem from factors beyond his control. He inherited
a mess, they note, and has gotten little help from a
Republican Party dangerously fixated on conspir-
acy theories about vaccines and the 2020 election.
“The pandemic has created a sense that things are
not where people want them to be, and they’re sad
about the continuing divisions and disruptions,”
says Democratic pollster Margie Omero. “That
continues because of the Republicans—it’s not
something Biden can change.” Biden, too, doesn’t
think the polling is a reflection of how he’s done
his job. “I have probably outperformed what any-
body thought would happen,” he said at the Jan. 19
press conference.
Inside the White House, there’s a belief that the
press is overly negative, though if anything Biden
has benefited with voters and the media alike from
the low bar set by Trump. (Given five days’ notice,
the Administration declined to make a senior offi-
cial available to speak on the record for this article,
saying the long holiday weekend made schedul-
ing difficult.) Allies who acknowledge change is
needed advise the President to be more visible,project strength and pivot away from congressional
chaos, deploying the Vice President and Cabinet to
sell his policies. “He needs to make the case more
forcefully and get more folks out there making the
case,” says Rodell Mollineau, an adviser to Biden’s
Unite the Country super PAC. “It’s now an election
year, and you need to convince the American peo-
ple that we have made some progress.”
On Jan. 13, Biden returned to Capitol Hill, this
time to make a show of strong- arming his party’s
Senators to pass voting legislation. But the gambit
broadcast weakness instead. Just before he arrived,
Sinema blindsided him with a floor speech blast-
ing the idea. In the meeting itself, Biden spent sev-
eral minutes reminiscing about the days of Robert
Byrd and Strom Thurmond, Senators reported af-
terward. Sinema did not speak up in the meeting,
and Biden did not call on her to explain herself. One
Senator told TIME the President was “soft-spoken”
and difficult to hear. Immediately afterward, Man-
chin reaffirmed his opposition as well. Biden then
walked down the hall to McConnell’s office, but the
Republican leader could not be found.
In the Capitol, reporters clustered around
Biden, seeking his perspective on the way for-
ward—a plan. He offered only a shrug. “I hope we
can get this done,” the President said. “But I’m
not sure.” —With reporting by AbigAil AbrAms,
leslie Dickstein, W.J. HennigAn, nik PoPli,
Abby Vesoulis and JuliA ZortHiAn △
President
Biden was
caught flat-
footed as two
COVID-19
variants
surged and
prolonged the
pandemicMANDEL NGAN—AFP/GETTY IMAGES