How will the Omicron variant affect Biden's approval rating?

[compucomp]

Omicron is the new variant now at the top of the news everywhere. Clearly we need to analyze how this will affect Biden's standing since that's just what we do. Discuss.

[GeneralMacArthur]

Down, obviously it's his fault.  If he puts in some temporary restrictions to try and combat it, everyone will get mad at him and say those restrictions were unnecessary.  If he doesn't, and it kills a bunch of Republicans who were too stupid to follow simple instructions, they'll blame him for all the deaths and ask why he didn't do more.  Either way he's clearly broken his campaign promise to get the virus under control, since he didn't personally go down to South Africa and prevent Omicron from happening.  But also it's time to fire Fauci because we're sick of the nanny state and it's time to let nature take its course (on people other than me and my loved ones).

[BigSerg]

Obviously down (good)

[Vespucci]

It depends on how bad it gets here. If it leads to more NPIs and mask mandates it'll hurt Biden.

[BG-NY]

Hopefully it won't. Get your boosters please.

[PSOL]

Due to the very early loosening of restrictions, the increased death rate along with the possibility of retightening restrictions will harm his rating.

[Property Representative of the Harold Holt Swimming Centre]

Biden is about as much to blame as he is for hurricanes. Trump too.

[emailking]

Down unfortunately.

[Del Tachi]

It is Democrats and their enablers in the MSM who browbeat the simpleton logic that Trump was responsible for literally every single American COVID death.  I will not lose any sleep when this same logic comes to fail Biden after he bet and lost that the Trump vaccines would completely erase the virus. 

[President Johnson]

Down, obviously it's his fault.  If he puts in some temporary restrictions to try and combat it, everyone will get mad at him and say those restrictions were unnecessary.  If he doesn't, and it kills a bunch of Republicans who were too stupid to follow simple instructions, they'll blame him for all the deaths and ask why he didn't do more.  Either way he's clearly broken his campaign promise to get the virus under control, since he didn't personally go down to South Africa and prevent Omicron from happening.  But also it's time to fire Fauci because we're sick of the nanny state and it's time to let nature take its course (on people other than me and my loved ones).

This is unfortunately spot on, at least if we assume this variant has a major impact (existing data is not sufficient at this point).

[GeneralMacArthur]

It is Democrats and their enablers in the MSM who browbeat the simpleton logic that Trump was responsible for literally every single American COVID death.  I will not lose any sleep when this same logic comes to fail Biden after he bet and lost that the Trump vaccines would completely erase the virus. 

Trump did absolutely nothing to protect people and encouraged all kinds of risky behavior that allowed the virus to spread while simultaneously handicapping any effort to rescue people afflicted with the virus.  Because of that, he is to blame for tons of excess deaths.

The simpleton logic is being incapable of distinguishing between "literally all COVID deaths are someone's fault" and "if someone had the power to prevent some COVID deaths, but didn't use that power, then those excess deaths are his fault."

[SWE]

As long as Biden is too indifferent to both the country's safety and his own electoral prospects to impose a universal vaccine mandate, down

[Hollywood]

It is Democrats and their enablers in the MSM who browbeat the simpleton logic that Trump was responsible for literally every single American COVID death.  I will not lose any sleep when this same logic comes to fail Biden after he bet and lost that the Trump vaccines would completely erase the virus. 

Everything that's happened since Biden took office was so predictable, so I've prepared myself for the disaster that we've and I expect to happen.  I don't know if I've gotten any of my forecasts wrong this year, including the speedy mutation of the coronavirus that mainstream scientists said would happen at a much slower rate.  Some Republicans alleged that this was going to happen due to the 'leaky vaccine' theory that was the focus of some studies over the past year, but I'm not buying into theory until I see concrete evidence that's transparently disseminated.  

The real problem for Democrats is that they continue losing public trust despite having the media in lock-step.  I am aware that Trump also lost trust.  The problem with Democrats is that they stick to  positions long after they've been proven totally bunk by the scientific community.  I guess Democrats could make the same claim, but it's much more noticeable when it's their entire media and political establishment that is wrong.  Sometimes they ignore concerns.  Then when their action or inaction exacerbates the situation, they just blame Trump, Republicans, Facebook, and any other group they distaste.  Again, they could say similar things about the Republicans, but I think they're over-reaching when it comes to scope and magnitude.  

At this point, blaming political enemies for problems that have little or nothing to do with them is seriously damaging the Democrat media arm that they will entirely rely to propagandize D talking points and save them from a massive defeat in 2022.  They are just repeating the same tactic that broke them in Virginia.  Worked when Trump was in office, but now it's just pathetic.  I'm not saying Democrats are responsible for all the problems that they now face, but they are trying to scapegoat others for mistakes on issues 60-65% of voters believe/know they've botched.  

[Calthrina950]

As long as Biden is too indifferent to both the country's safety and his own electoral prospects to impose a universal vaccine mandate, down

I'm not arguing against a vaccine mandate (given my own personal experience), but where would Biden derive the authority to impose such a mandate? The OSHA mandate is already being challenged in court.

[Klobmentum Mutilated Herself]

Biden and other western leaders who prioritized giving third doses to their people and letting vaccines expire over giving vaccines to people in poor countries who haven't had their first dose yet are to blame.

[Property Representative of the Harold Holt Swimming Centre]

As long as Biden is too indifferent to both the country's safety and his own electoral prospects to impose a universal vaccine mandate, down

Aside from the obvious objections, vaccine uptake rates are already at the levels that they can realistically be in various countries which have similar infection rates to those of the United States. In other words, pointless.

[compucomp]

Biden and other western leaders who prioritized giving third doses to their people and letting vaccines expire over giving vaccines to people in poor countries who haven't had their first dose yet are to blame.

If there's no demand over there for the vaccine and African countries are going to just sit on the doses they have and not administer them, Western countries should definitely prioritize boosters particularly with Omicron on its way.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-25/who-meets-on-new-covid-19-variant-circulating-in-south-africa

One key difference is that while European countries have broadly got vaccination levels to a healthy majority and have moved on to booster shots, only about 35% of South African adults are fully inoculated. The health department has even asked Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer Inc. to hold off on new deliveries due to a slump in demand.

The rest of Africa is in an even worse position, with only 6.6% of the continent’s population fully vaccinated, Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said at a virtual briefing. The challenge of securing supplies has given way to a lack of demand, with about 45% of the 403 million doses delivered to the continent yet to be administered, he said.

[Hollywood]

Biden and other western leaders who prioritized giving third doses to their people and letting vaccines expire over giving vaccines to people in poor countries who haven't had their first dose yet are to blame.

I can actually get on board with the argument that world leaders need to direct resources to Africa and SE in order to stop future variations from evolving and rapidly spreading.

I imagine statistics coming from Africa are under-estimated due to a lack of resources, so there needs to be more monitoring in the region.  Early warning is very important.

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

It is Democrats and their enablers in the MSM who browbeat the simpleton logic that Trump was responsible for literally every single American COVID death.  I will not lose any sleep when this same logic comes to fail Biden after he bet and lost that the Trump vaccines would completely erase the virus. 

Certainly he didn't cause every single COVID death, but he certainly did cause a good number of them thanks to his incompetence. Also, LOL at "Trump vaccines." When did his ass take the time to personally make the vaccine?

"The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on the USA, with more than 26 million
diagnosed cases and over 450 000 deaths as of early
February, 2021, about 40% of which could have been
averted had the US death rate mirrored the weighted
average of the other G7 nations."

Source: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(20)32545-9.pdf

[Skill and Chance]

As long as Biden is too indifferent to both the country's safety and his own electoral prospects to impose a universal vaccine mandate, down

Isn't the concern here whether or not the vaccines can still stop it? 

If that is the concern, the best course of action is to approve the 2 COVID pills ASAP and do whatever it takes to make them as widely available as birth control or antibiotics by Christmas. 

[Skill and Chance]

If it all blows over in 2 weeks, he can declare victory and might actually get an approval bump.  If this gets to the point where CDC and state health departments ask people not to celebrate Christmas with anyone outside of their household, it obviously goes way down, probably to Bush 2008 levels. 

[Hollywood]

Another point I forgot to mention is that Biden does well on the question of Covid-19, but has slipped over the past few months to the even or slightly negative approval range.  There are still a quarter or third of voters that prioritize the issue first or second.  Plenty independents and Republicans reside in that category.  The handling of Covid-19 also has an enormous impact on Governors.

If the Omicron virus does start a new outbreak in the United States, Biden Approvals are absolutely going to get knocked down into the mid to upper 30s.  This will trickle down into purple and blue states.  At the current juncture, Republicans should planning to compete in states in New England, as well as MN, NJ, CO, and NM.

[Tekken_Guy]

Too early to tell. It's generally well known that viruses that become more transmissible become less deadly. We might be getting to a point where it's only really a threat to people with underlying health conditions. Basically it's like comparing one AR-15 to 100 dart guns.

If it does prove to be as bad as feared, then yes, Biden's approval will continue to go down the toilet. If it's not it may stay put or even rebound.

[Del Tachi]

It is Democrats and their enablers in the MSM who browbeat the simpleton logic that Trump was responsible for literally every single American COVID death.  I will not lose any sleep when this same logic comes to fail Biden after he bet and lost that the Trump vaccines would completely erase the virus. 

Trump did absolutely nothing to protect people and encouraged all kinds of risky behavior that allowed the virus to spread while simultaneously handicapping any effort to rescue people afflicted with the virus.  Because of that, he is to blame for tons of excess deaths.

The simpleton logic is being incapable of distinguishing between "literally all COVID deaths are someone's fault" and "if someone had the power to prevent some COVID deaths, but didn't use that power, then those excess deaths are his fault."

No one takes you seriously when you call Operation Warp Speed "absolutely nothing" GenMac, lol

Trump's White House was who bought industry onboard with $11B in direct funding and liability protections to fast track the development of vaccines and advanced therapeutics.  Plans made for vaccine procurement and distribution when Trump was president are the same plans Biden now likes to take credit for, lol

Had Biden or another Democrat been president in 2020, there would have been no equivalent effort to unleash the power of American industry to outmaneuver the pandemic.  Biden proves how fundamentally broken his approach to the pandemic is with his own 13-member COVID task force - there wasn't a single representative of American industry appointed. 

Democrats have only proved able to think about the response to the pandemic as a set of constantly escalating and totalizing public health measures designed to compel our behavior and limit individual freedom, and those are the only voices for which Biden has given a seat at the table.

[GeneralMacArthur]

It is Democrats and their enablers in the MSM who browbeat the simpleton logic that Trump was responsible for literally every single American COVID death.  I will not lose any sleep when this same logic comes to fail Biden after he bet and lost that the Trump vaccines would completely erase the virus. 

Trump did absolutely nothing to protect people and encouraged all kinds of risky behavior that allowed the virus to spread while simultaneously handicapping any effort to rescue people afflicted with the virus.  Because of that, he is to blame for tons of excess deaths.

The simpleton logic is being incapable of distinguishing between "literally all COVID deaths are someone's fault" and "if someone had the power to prevent some COVID deaths, but didn't use that power, then those excess deaths are his fault."

No one takes you seriously when you call Operation Warp Speed "absolutely nothing" GenMac, lol

Trump's White House was who bought industry onboard with $11B in direct funding and liability protections to fast track the development of vaccines and advanced therapeutics.  Plans made for vaccine procurement and distribution when Trump was president are the same plans Biden now likes to take credit for, lol

Had Biden or another Democrat been president in 2020, there would have been no equivalent effort to unleash the power of American industry to outmaneuver the pandemic.  Biden proves how fundamentally broken his approach to the pandemic is with his own 13-member COVID task force - there wasn't a single representative of American industry appointed. 

Democrats have only proved able to think about the response to the pandemic as a set of constantly escalating and totalizing public health measures designed to compel our behavior and limit individual freedom, and those are the only voices for which Biden has given a seat at the table.

Why should Trump get credit for Operation Warp Speed?  He didn't do anything to help.  The funding for Operation Warp Speed was passed by Congress in the CARES Act.  Can you name one single thing Trump did to facilitate the development of vaccines?  As usual, other people in the Trump administration do the bare minimum imaginable, Trump does absolutely nothing to help or make things better, and then he demands all the credit and acts like he couldn't have done anything else.

BTW, the Biden administration is doing a much better job of vaccine research, production and distribution than Operation Warp Speed did, and I don't see you rushing to give them credit, even though Biden himself has been far more hands-on about it than Trump was.

I seriously can't believe the nerve it takes to give Trump all this credit for sitting on his lazy ass and doing nothing while COVID swept the nation.  You guys look at all these memes of Trump in Slyvester Stallone's body, or Trump riding on a tank, and think he's some superhero rushing around behind the scenes to do everything he can to help America.  The dude didn't do anything.  He spent hours every day watching TV and tweeting.  I'm so sick of this s--t.  I thought when he finally lost you guys would break out of the cult but instead you've all tripled down on convincing yourselves that he was the greatest president ever even though we're less than a year away and he already has basically zero positive legacy.