GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on Wednesday countered the notion that the Biden administration has a messaging problem, saying instead it’s the policies they have implemented.
President Joe Biden’s approval rating in the Real Clear Politics average of polls is 38 percent.
A Monmouth University poll released this week found that 88 percent of respondents believe the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction. Just 10 percent said the country is going the right way. The survey was conducted from June 23 to June 27 among 978 adults. The margin of error was +/- 3.1 percent.
The White House announced Wednesday that communications director Kate Bedingfield is stepping down after over three years of advising Biden on messaging, starting with his 2020 presidential campaign.
“Democrats have grown openly critical of the Biden team’s communications strategy in recent weeks and months,” Politico reported regarding her departure. “Longtime Biden aide Anita Dunn recently returned to the White House as a senior adviser and has been working to shore up the operation.”
Appearing on Fox News the day of the Bedingfield announcement, Jordan said, “They don’t have a messaging problem, they’ve got a policy problem, and they’re doing it intentionally. They’re intentionally doing it to our southern border, having no border at all, having this chaos there.
“So I don’t think they can message their way out of this. It’s bad policies. We’re the party that says we actually like stable prices. We’re the party that says you should fund the police and have safe cities,” he added.
“We’re the party that says we like $2 gas, not $5 gas and this crazy green agenda that the Democrats are pushing.”
In the early days of his presidency, Biden signed executive orders under the auspices of addressing climate change that included suspending oil and gas exploration leasing on federal lands and reinstating an Obama-era carbon dioxide emission federal fee on oil-drilling operations, which had been lowered significantly under former President Donald Trump.
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Additionally, the Biden administration shut down oil exploration in the Arctic Wildlife Preserve, limited oil exploration in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, scrapped offshore lease sales and canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada.
Now, the U.S. is producing 1.3 million barrels less per day than at its pre-pandemic peak under Trump, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Spiking gasoline prices have contributed to the nation’s 40-year-high inflation rate.
Jordan further contrasted the Republican Party’s agenda with the Democrats’.
“We’re the party that says we respect your First Amendment liberties, your right to free speech, and we respect your Second Amendment rights. We’re not trying to take away your firearms if you’re a law-abiding citizen,” he said.
“We’re the ones who have the policies that are consistent with America,” Jordan continued.
“They’re the ones who are radical. … The country has already figured it out. So, try as they may, they’re not going to change things. I think it’s going to be a big win for Republicans this November.”
The latest Rasmussen generic congressional ballot poll showed Republicans with an 8-percentage point advantage over Democrats among likely voters, while FiveThirtyEight’s average of surveys shows the GOP with a 1.8 percent lead.
A version of this article originally appeared on Patriot Project.
