President Joe Biden’s popularity among American voters has been in descent since he took the oath of office in January of 2021. Indeed, by May 25 of this year, Biden’s approval rating, as related by Paul Bedard in a Washington Examiner editorial, had fallen below that of every president back through Harry Truman at that point in their presidencies. And Biden’s approval rating has continued to drop since then.
What is Biden to do? From within his Democratic Party, the message is increasingly put out that Biden should not seek reelection in 2024.
Suppose Biden takes that advice and announces he will not seek a second term. What will he do then? He has been in political office nearly nonstop since joining the United States Senate in 1973 at the age of 30 — the minimum age required under the US Constitution.
One option for the career politician who may not want to step away from the political power just yet is to look for opportunity in Europe. Less than 4 in 10 Americans polled say they support Biden, and a majority disapprove. In at least some countries in Europe, in contrast, polling suggests majority support for Biden.
Spring polling numbers from Pew Research Center indicate confidence in Biden was at 53 percent in France, 56 percent in both Spain and Great Britain, and a whopping 64 percent in Germany. It should be noted, though, that those numbers came in lower than numbers from the beginning of Biden’s presidency.
Europe may be a land of political opportunity for Biden after so many people in his home country electorate and even in his own party have soured on the prospect of him seeking reelection as US president. If Biden wants to stay in high office, now is the time for his campaign people to poll across Europe and research where he may qualify to seek high office on the continent.
Maybe Biden could even hold a high government office in Ukraine. He has experience as a vice president and senator in America, so maybe he’d be willing to take something other than the top job in Ukraine. As vice president, Biden even handled plenty of Ukraine policy work. Here is some of the discussion, from a Max Blumenthal article, of Biden’s Ukraine-related work around the time of the 2014 US-supported overthrow of the Ukraine government:
By Feb. 2014, the Maidan revolt had succeeded in overthrowing [Ukraine President Victor] Yanukovich with the help of far-right ultra-nationalist street muscle. With a new, US-approved government in power, Biden assumed a personal role in dictating Ukraine’s day-to-day affairs.
‘No one in the US government has wielded more influence over Ukraine than Vice President Joe Biden,’ Foreign Policy noted. The Atlantic Council also described Biden as “the point person on Ukraine in the Obama administration.”
‘Ukraine was the top, or one of the top three, foreign policy issues we were concentrating on,’ said [Michael] Carpenter, Biden’s foreign policy advisor. ‘[Biden] was front and center.’
Of course, since becoming president, Biden has been shoveling money and weapons as fast as he can over to current Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. So Zelensky really owes Biden. Maybe Biden can find a better opportunity elsewhere in Europe. But, it is always good to have a backup plan.
