As Media Outlets Focus On Joe Biden’s Dismal Poll Numbers, Network Pundits Struggle To Make Sense Of Democrats’ Off-Year Election Victories
08.11.2023 - 03:51
/ deadline.com
Democrats looked to be on their way to significant victories in off-year elections tonight, with Andy Beshear projected to win reelection in Kentucky, an abortion rights ballot measure easily approved in Ohio and Virginia’s state Senate likely to remain under party control.
As cable news networks deployed graphics and teams of pundits to offer their takes, there was a bit of vexation when it comes to making sense of it all when it comes to 2024.
Earlier in the evening, CNN released the results of a poll showing President Joe Biden trailing former President Donald Trump in a rematch, giving fuel to the storyline that Democrats are facing a five-alarm fire when it comes to their prospects next year.
On MSNBC, as it was clear that Beshear was on his way to winning reelection over Republican Daniel Cameron in the deep-red state, Chris Hayes said, “If everything was going as poorly as people say things are going, particularly economically, I don’t think what you would predict is an incumbent Democratic governor of the state of Kentucky … is going to win this race. There is a little bit of a mismatch between what people tell pollsters right track, wrong track and all this stuff, and a Democratic governor in Kentucky widening his margin [from 2019 to 2023] when you have got a Democrat in the White House.”
On CNN, after the Kentucky race was called, Jake Tapper asked whether there was a “Beshear template” for other candidates to follow. Abby Phillip replied, “I think when you talk to Democrats who are running on issues and in campaigns across the country, every single one of these races is different in a certain way, and each one of these candidates has to be, as both parties will say, the right fit for their state, for