Back in the day, the general rule of presidential election cycles was that the vast majority of the American voting public only decided who they would vote for around Labor Day of an election year. As in, most people aren’t even paying attention to the two-year-long horse race or months of exhaustive punditry, and they make their decisions about two months before an election. Of course, these days, that’s not the rule – political operatives have convinced themselves that they need years of candidate brand-building and a campaign without flaws at every moment. I guess what I’m saying is that we are fifteen months away from the 2024 presidential election and I need the New York Times to stop terrorizing me with poll numbers every f–king morning.

Yesterday’s news was that the NYT did extensive polling within registered Republican voters and they found that Donald Trump is still the heavy, diapered favorite. Trump is polling at 57% and his closest rival is Meatball Ron DeSantis at 17%. DeSantis’s popularity has bottomed out significantly in recent months as well, as he has been exposed in the national media – as in, as soon as the rest of America got a good look at this Florida nutjob, they were like “no thanks.” This morning, the Times released another poll in which President Biden is in a “dead heat” with Diaper Don.

President Biden is heading into the 2024 presidential contest on firmer footing than a year ago, with his approval rating inching upward and once-doubtful Democrats falling into line behind his re-election bid, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll.

Mr. Biden appears to have escaped the political danger zone he resided in last year, when nearly two-thirds of his party wanted a different nominee. Now, Democrats have broadly accepted him as their standard-bearer, even if half would prefer someone else.

Still, warning signs abound for the president: Despite his improved standing and a friendlier national environment, Mr. Biden remains broadly unpopular among a voting public that is pessimistic about the country’s future, and his approval rating is a mere 39 percent.

Perhaps most worryingly for Democrats, the poll found Mr. Biden in a neck-and-neck race with former President Donald J. Trump, who held a commanding lead among likely Republican primary voters even as he faces two criminal indictments and more potential charges on the horizon. Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump were tied at 43 percent apiece in a hypothetical rematch in 2024, according to the poll.

Mr. Biden has been buoyed by voters’ feelings of fear and distaste toward Mr. Trump. Well over a year before the election, 16 percent of those polled had unfavorable views of both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, a segment with which Mr. Biden had a narrow lead.

[From The NY Times]

This was written in the style of the New York Times Pitchbot, I swear to God. Anyway, I will happily vote for Joe Biden again and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by just how effective he’s been in the White House. Skilled diplomat, negotiating genius, progressive economic policies, liberal social policies. My guess is that Biden is waiting to summon the full Dark Brandon campaign for next year, a campaign which will be heavy on “abortion” as the defining issue of the race.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.