Biden is a Terrible Salesman

And he's too poor of a president to make up for it.

I think Joe Biden has been a bad president. That statement shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s read my work, or who knows that I’m a small-government conservative who values competent leadership and good character. I think he’s created or at least added to some big problems (the Afghanistan withdrawal, a porous southern border, runaway spending, etc.), and I believe he’s been a needlessly divisive figure after promising, as a candidate, to work toward healing the country’s wounds.

I figured I’d reiterate all that before adding that he’s also a really bad salesman. Hopefully that will make clear that I don’t think Biden’s reelection challenges are limited to bad messaging. They’re not. Yet, messaging is clearly a big problem for him.

I was reminded of this the other day when I saw the results of a new Politico-Morning Consult poll that asked voters their thoughts on Biden’s spending initiatives during his first two years in office.

It was apparent from the results that voters don’t know much about the laws passed under Biden, which isn’t terribly surprising these days being that our politics continue to shift away from public policy, and toward things like showmanship, partisan trolling, and social grievances.

But there was one result that stuck out:

Polls have shown for years that infrastructure spending is very popular with voters. That’s why Trump was always talking about it when he was president, and why it’s long been part of the Democratic party platform.

But the kicker with this particular poll is something that McKay Coppins of The Atlantic pointed out on Twitter (“X”):

Trump: Declares nine different "Infrastructure Weeks," derails them all with various antics and scandals, fails to sign any major legislation because everyone in Congress hates him.

Biden: Negotiates with Congress to pass a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

All Trump did was talk about infrastructure. Biden actually got something done on the issue. Yet, the two are effectively tied on who did more (Trump actually leads with independents).

The problem for Biden here is that he hasn’t effectively communicated that win — at least not in a way that resonates with the average voter. Thus, it looks like the issue has left him with no political advantage going into November.

As Coppins added, “As much as we made fun of all those ‘Infrastructure Weeks,’ people seem to have remembered them!”

In the sales world, repetition and enthusiasm are very effective tools, but Biden, at his age and with his mental acuity, isn’t well equipped to use them.

Did you know that violent crime across the nation has fallen dramatically since Biden took office? The situation was much worse under Trump, and every now and then you’ll hear Biden say something to that effect. But all it takes is the next viral video of a crime being brazenly committed somewhere to convince Americans that the opposite is true. Trump talks tough on crime, and despite the fact that he’s currently facing multiple criminal indictments, he leads Biden on the issue.

Did you know that domestic oil production has hit an all-time high under Joe Biden? You probably didn’t, because the right-wing media rarely, if ever, talks about it (for obvious reasons). But Biden doesn’t either… even though it would probably be a political winner for him. That’s because he’s afraid of upsetting environmentalists in the Democratic coalition.

When Republicans cynically killed the strongest bipartisan border bill in decades, just because Donald Trump told them too, I figured Biden would be sounding off on that debacle all the way to November. He was smart to bring it up in the State of the Union two months ago, but he’s barely said a thing about it since. Nor did he take a “fine, I’ll do it myself” approach, and actually address the issue in any meaningful way (despite illegal immigration remaining a top concern of Americans).

If you can’t even be bothered (or are unable) to give people the impression you’re trying to make the situation better (as even a mediocre salesman would), how can you expect to close the deal with them?

Contrast that with Trump, who’s been talking aggressively for years about sealing the border. It weirdly doesn’t matter that once he became president, and his party held majorities in both branches of Congress, he did virtually nothing on the issue (even as millions crossed our southern border). Not until Democrats won back the House (two years later) did he even try for a law. Nancy Pelosi said no, and his controversial recourse was to direct funding from the Defense Department’s budget to replace about 400 miles of existing barriers along the border. Less than 50 miles of new wall were ever built… which clearly hasn’t done much to stop illegal entries.

Yet, largely because of Trump’s enduring rhetoric on the matter, and Biden’s lack thereof (while border-crossings remain very high), polls show that the guy who sank a once-in-a-generation border bill holds a 15-20 point lead over Biden on immigration.

To be clear, I don’t feel sorry for Biden and the Democrats. Effective campaigning is part of the job of being a presidential candidate. If you’re unable to prove that you’re a competent and effective leader, you at least have to compel voters to believe that you are.

It requires selling yourself, and on that front Biden just can’t compete with Trump.

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