Former Clinton Pollster Explains Biden’s Low Approval Ratings: Likable Joe Has Been Replaced By a ‘Sterner, Angrier Figure’

Hillary Clinton’s 2008 pollster Mark Penn and former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway joined Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer on Friday to discuss President Joe Biden’s lackluster poll numbers.

Hemmer kicked off the segment, noting a recent Quinnipiac poll shows that 46 percent of Americans don’t think Biden cares about the average American. The same poll has Biden with only a 36 percent approval rating.

Penn weighed in on the finding, saying, “I think the president has lost one of his key attributes, which was always likability.”

“Whether people favored his policies or not, he did have this image of being a kind of likable Uncle Joe. You know, ice cream Joe, kind of friendly. And I think he’s lost that,” Penn added. “I think it’s been replaced by a kind of sterner, angrier figure who can now generate numbers like this.”

Hemmer then asked Conway, a Trump 2016 campaign manager, her thoughts on Penn’s assessment. “I do agree. Thirty years after Bill Clinton said to America ‘I feel your pain,’ many Americans think Biden is causing their pain,” she said.

“Pain at the pump and grocery store, the southern border and there is a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty. When you lay that over the cratering of his personal attributes including among independents and suburban women he is in trouble,” she added.

Hemmer went on to show more polling that found Republicans with a slight edge in the midterm elections on both a generic ballot for the House and Senate.

“Look, all pollsters agree right now the president’s underwater,” Penn said, noting Biden’s drag on national Democrats.

“Inflation, crime, immigration, these are core issues, handling foreign affairs. Look, I think the president took a big hit on the way he handled Afghanistan,” Penn continued, noting a key watershed moment in Biden’s approval rating beginning to fall.

“Does he seem compassionate to people now? You look at the war crimes being committed, is he seen as the kind of president who can rally leadership around something like that? You know, those are the open questions,” Penn continued.

“Those are the opportunities that he has as president. So far, he hasn’t really taken them despite, I think, clear opportunities to change energy policy, to change immigration policy, to appoint a more moderate Supreme Court. He hasn’t made those changes that would pivot his administration in a new direction. Time is running out for that,” Penn argued.
Hemmer followed up, asking Penn if he sees a chance for the Democrats to turn things around before November.

“Everything you see is a doubling down of their current strategy,” Penn replied, sounding a pessimistic tone for the Democrats. “You can see they are out appealing even more so to minority and Black voters whom they have almost 90% of rather than pitching to the swing voters.”

Watch the full clip above via Fox News