IT ISN'T JUST IOWA

This would be worrisome in isolation...

Fewer than one third of Iowans approve of the job Joe Biden is doing as president, a steep drop from earlier this year.

Thirty-one percent of Iowans approve of how Biden is handling his job, while 62% disapprove and 7% are not sure, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

That’s a 12 percentage point drop in approval from June, the last time the question was asked. Biden's disapproval numbers jumped by 10 points during the same period. In June, 43% approved and 52% disapproved.

Biden’s job approval has not been in net positive territory in Iowa since March, when 47% of Iowans approved of his performance and 44% disapproved.

Biden lost Iowa in 2020 by a 53%-45% margin, and Hillary Clinton lost the state 51%-42%, so no, it's not a blue or even purple state. But there's a similar poll in Michigan, a state Biden did win:

About 39% of voters approved of [Biden's] performance and 53% disapproved, according to the [Detroit Regional Chamber] poll.

Among those contributing to the decline in approval are "leaning Democratic" voters whose approval decreased by 32% and independent voters whose approval dipped by 11%....

Biden is the third Democratic president in a row who thought he could outmaneuver Republicans and turncoat Democratic centrists so they couldn't sabotage his presidency in its first two years. Barack Obama got a healthcare plan out of that period at least, but he and Bill Clinton both spent the next six years playing defense while Republicans (and some Democrats) acted as if they were illegitimate usurpers.

And the next time Republicans have control of the White House as well as Congress, I assume they'll pass election laws that make it impossible for another Democrat to ever win the presidency again. Biden is fighting a two-front war -- as he should have known he would -- but he has to win it, or we lose. He's not winning now.