Although he travels regularly to raise funds for Democrats, the unpopular 79-year-old president has not ventured to campaign in battleground states like Arizona.
“Biden does not enjoy great popularity due to the natural wear and tear of government,” explains Rodrigo Aguilar Benignos, analyst and member of the US Foreign Relations Council in a telephone interview with Expansión.
“In the Senate, the Democrats only have a two-vote advantage, that gives them very narrow margins in the votes, then decision-making is complicated, there is a lot of wear and tear on the agenda that President Biden has promoted,” he indicates.
Midterm elections, held every two years right in the middle of a presidential term, are often unfavorable to the party in power.
And it does not seem that the elections on November 8, in which the House of Representatives, more than a third of the Senate and some thirty governors are renewed, will be an exception.
Polls consider a Republican “red wave” likely to leave Biden’s party without its slim majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives. It is more uncertain what could happen in the Senate, which renews a third of its 100 members.
“It’s not a referendum. It’s an election. A choice between two very different visions of the country. That’s what it’s all about,” the Democratic president said Saturday, after casting his vote early.