Biden viewed as 'a puppet' and 'not making any sense' to Michigan swing voters in Axios focus group

It's gotta be tough to be center-left media outlet Axios.

They pay a ton of money to do focus group work on swing state voters ... and the voters don't tell them the story they had probably hoped to hear. Witness this:

Some swing voters in Warren, Mich., question Joe Biden's ability to lead the country — calling him a "puppet" who's not "mentally capable of being president" — while admitting they haven't paid much attention to his events, platforms or speeches.

They've got it down as 'some' from their focus group of voters who had voted for President Obama in 2012 and then went for Trump in 2016, which, to be fair, is accurate enough.

But it doesn't tell the whole story. Actually, that 'some' looks like quite a lot -- only two of the nine voters in the swing-state focus group actually plan to vote for Biden. The other seven, well, Axios doesn't say, but they're probably either undecided or more likely (given the Axios reticence) voting again for Trump.

In a story from last month, Axios found that nine out of 10 Trump voters intend to stick with Trump.

Meanwhile, back in Michigan, the swing voter verdict on Biden is pretty brutal - here's a sample from the Axios report:

"I just feel that what he’s saying is not making any sense to me," said Sharon T. of Biden's television appearances. She called Biden "a puppet" for wearing a mask in public, suggesting that he was only doing it to be politically correct.​

Some other takings:

"I don’t think that Biden is mentally capable of being president."

..."up there in age"

..."showing signs of dementia"

..."a puppet" who is "controlled by a lot of people in the deep state." ... "the lobbyists, the people that have the big money, the people that have influence on a lot of the politicians."

...a feeling that Biden "becomes lost in his answers," 

There were no contrasting positive statements noted from the participants, and you know that Axios would note them if they were there -- Axios was reduced to citing a national poll that made unfavorable claims about Trump as if those things were accurate.

The negativity on Biden extended well beyond his general addlepatedness - Axios also noted this:

Biden's lower profile in mostly virtual events was proving no competition for Trump's provocative attacks and national bully pulpit. Many of the voters couldn't name a single achievement Biden has had in his life.

That's the Democrats' signature campaign strategy, keeping Biden locked up in basement and hoping Trump hangs himself. The media has praised it as Biden's genius, Biden's winning formula, Biden's secret sauce - 'stay out of Trump's way.' Well, ahem. So much for strategy.

Focus groups aren't everything, but every single one that I've seen Axios do seems to show an opposite response to what they are looking for. Now, either they blundered into identifying a huge hidden nest of Republican voters (possible, and maybe they really are everywhere), or else they are getting a whiff of real voter sentiment in the critical swing state areas that Democrats have been crowing about as a breeze for pickups.

Even this June Axios focus group of swing voters in Pennsylvania, headlined as generally good news for Democrats, has those devils contradicting it in their details. There's this:

Details: The nine-voter focus group was conducted virtually last Tuesday. Six of its participants voted for Barack Obama in 2012 and flipped to Trump in 2016; three voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 but Hillary Clinton in 2016.

  • Four of the Obama/Trump voters and all three Romney/Clinton voters said they plan to support Biden in November.

Which shows that even in a bad-new focus group last month, Trump is not losing all voters.

With news like this seeping out, is it any wonder that Democrats are starting to sound nervous about their chances?

The wokester Atlantic quotes Debbie Dingell of Michigan, sure enough, saying she's worried the pollsters have been oversampling Biden voters.

The Obama-hipsterly Vox similarly reports that maybe Democrats shouldn't be trusting the polls. "Democrats are worried they can't trust 2020 polls. Maybe they should be,' which is one heck of a vote for confidence in basement Joe Biden.

We don't see a lot of this the other way around. 

And Cato reports that some 62% of voters are scared to tell pollsters and their friends what they poltically think.

Could there be a Trump landslide in the works? With focus groups like these, how could there not be? Biden's only electoral advantage these days for voters who want him is that he's Not Trump. The rest of the swing staters may well be sticking with Trump.

 

Image credit: Monica Showalter, based on camera shot aimed at television set. Processed with FotoSketcher.

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