Juana Garcia/The Cougar
As the year rounds to a close, so will Joe Biden’s first year as president. Despite his win over former President Trump last year, it seems that Trump’s influence is not fully gone.
Even though President Biden continuously admonished Trump’s policies during his campaign, he has failed to fight back against them, which has alienated prospective voters.
In a recent Gallup poll, Biden has reached an all-time low approval rating from the American people. The poll found that a slight majority of Americans disagree with Biden’s handling of several national issues, with the most disagreement being with immigration and economic policy.
Biden’s actions have been under scrutiny from both sides of the political aisle and polls have only proven his failure towards the immigration system and the U.S. economy.
Just recently, Biden suddenly reenacted Trump-era policies on immigration. Immigration lawyers, Homeland Security officials and prospective asylum-seekers have had to quickly relearn new immigration protocols that mostly match MPP under Trump, which stands for Migrant Protection Protocols.
MPP made immigrants and asylum-seekers wait for entrance into the country along with Northern Mexico rather than in a well-equipped, secure facility along the U.S. border. The current MPP makes immigrants and asylum-seekers in danger of being targeted by organized crime, with Title 42 increasing and worsening the prerequisites needed to apply for asylum and a green card.
Additionally, a Wall Street Journal poll found that many voters plan to support a Republican candidate during the midterm elections.
Voters feel more confident in allowing Republicans to better manage fiscal policy if inflation continues to rise under Biden, another issue the current president has not found a good remedy for.
The only advantage favoring the Democrats’ majority in Congress is the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. This bill, however, only buys Biden so much support and will not be enough to win the midterm elections.
Although it may not give fence-sitters enough reason to support a Democrat majority, the bill does guarantee states several block grants, to use in improving social services.
Texas, along with many other states, desperately needs grants like these in order to allocate funds to underfunded social services such as public health and foster care, which has been a promise of this infrastructure plan.
But Biden has failed to combat Trump’s influence and has even supported certain Trump policies in immigration. Delivering on one front with the Infrastructure bill does not absolve him from ignoring the continuation of policy he promised to repeal in the first place.
If Biden wants to keep support for the Democrats, he needs to take more action against Trump-era policies. Otherwise, he will continue to alienate voters.
JJ Caceres is a political science freshman who can be reached at [email protected]
