The last three months have been nightmarish for Joe Biden’s presidency. In August, his popularity started to nosedive, dropping precipitously so that, by late October, some polls had him dipping into the high 30s as Afghanistan, inflation and an inability to accomplish his domestic agenda have altered a once popular president’s fortunes. However, ABC, CBS, and NBC almost twice as many mentions were made of Trump’s poor polling by NBC, CBS, and NBC.
MRC analysts compared morning and evening news broadcasts from August 1-2021 to Oct 25, 2021 for Biden vs. Trump’s October 1, 2017 to Oktober 25 2017, respectively. While ABC, CBS and NBC mentioned Donald Trump’s unpopularity 37 times, they only noted the rapidly dropping numbers for Biden only 19 times.
This despite the fact that Biden’s fall is, by far, the bigger news story of the two. Real Clear Politics reported that Trump began 2017 as an unpopular President. His popularity averaged around 44%. He remained largely the same for nearly four years. Biden was a very popular president in January 2021. He started with a 55% popularity rating. Near the end October, Biden’s average fell to only 42 percent.
ABC received the highest number of mentions about Trump’s popularity in the August to Oct 2017 period. CBS came second with thirteen, and NBC was last with eight. All three networks were much more interested in the Democratic unpopular President four years later. CBS had eight mentions about imploding Biden numbers. NBC was second, with six mentions. ABC came last, with five.
The August was a terrible month for both President Trump and Vice-President Biden. After a rally by white supremacists, Trump was confronted with violence in Charlottesville. Biden, in 2021 was responsible for the devastation of Afghanistan. He also oversaw a chaotic withdrawal with 13 U.S. soldiers killed. But in that month, the networks highlighted the “record low” numbers for Trump 26 times. Biden only saw four mentions in August of his declining numbers.
And while Biden wasn’t as unpopular as Trump was in his respective August, the Democrat had suddenly fallen under 50 percent in 16 of 25 polls in August, an alarming trend documented by Real Clear Politics’s collection of polls.
Trump’s negative polling coverage was also a bit too positive. This was the August 2, 2017. CBS Evening News, Chip Reid trumpeted, “According to a new poll from Quinnipiac University, 62% of Americans believe the President lies. Seventy-one percent say he is not levelheaded.”
The 27th of September 2017 CBS Evening News, Dean Reynolds used a different Quinnipiac survey to announce: “57 percent of voters disapprove of Mr. Trump’s handling of the job. 56 percent consider him incompetent to serve and 51 percent are ashamed to be President..” (In the latest Quinnipiac poll, the outfit did not ask if Biden was honest, fit to serve, or what percentage of Americans were embarrassed to have him as president.)
In what could be mistaken for the coming Biden presidency, then-ABC News political analyst Matt Dowd on the August 5, 2017 Good Morning America warned, “[Trump is]The lowest point ever reached by any President was 6 months before summer. Augusts usually are never good months for Presidents.”
The 21st of August 2017 NBC Nightly News, Kristen Welker cited a prime-time address on Afghanistan: “It comes as polls show his approval rating is sagging. With this announcement tonight, Mr. Trump becomes the third President to take on the war in Afghanistan, a conflict he now owns.”
In contrast, the networks offered more matter-of-fact reporting on Biden’s plummet. This was the August 23, 20,21 CBS This Morning, Ed O’Keefe dryly noted the “President’s overall support is slipping as he’s facing criticism at home and abroad.”
On the October 7, 2021 edition of NBC’s Today as Biden hit 38 percent in a Quinnipiac poll: Garrett Haake described Biden as simply in need of a “boost”:
Democrats hope to pass the huge spending plan before the end of October. President Biden needs a boost right now. According to a new poll, his approval rating dropped to 38% in a recent survey. It is his lowest ever presidency.
The October 7, 2021 CBS Mornings, Ed O’Keefe echoed this, describing it as “the lowest [poll] yet of his presidency.” But networks were absent talk of Biden not being level-headed or honest. The September 7, 2021 Good Morning America, Cecilia Vega explained, “Only two presidents in modern history have had lower approval ratings at this stage of the game.”
Andrea Mitchell may have offered Biden the harshest warning on October 24, 2021 TodayShe compared, ” She compared, “[Biden’s]Polls are falling. He is down in the low 40s and 30s, in fact, those are Trump numbers in some of the polls.”
They are. On October 26, 2017, Trump’s Real Clear Politics average stood at 39.3. On October 26, 2021, Biden’s was at 42.4. Both men are close on their levels of unpopularity. But, despite Biden’s dramatic and sudden plunge, the networks still found Trump’s static, largely unchanging polls much more compelling.
Although the Biden presidency has been a disaster, journalists on network media are pretending everything is fine, despite it being crashing. The Democrat is getting closer and closer to being constantly in the 30s. Perhaps reality will eventually force ABC, CBS, and NBC into a position of transparency and stop protecting Biden.
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