An NBC News poll released Sunday was so woeful for President Joe Biden that "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd admitted the results were "scary news for the Democrats."
Biden's approval rating in the NBC News poll dived underwater for the first time in his presidency. The poll conducted Oct. 23-26 found that 42% of U.S. adults approved of Biden's job performance — a 7-point drop from August — while 54% disapproved. This is a near reversal from April's poll that showed 53% approval and 39% disapproval.
The poll — conducted by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies that included 82% registered voters — revealed that only 37% of respondents believe Biden is "competent and effective as president," compared with 50% who declare him not to be. Just 37% of respondents trusted that Biden could handle a crisis, while 47% said he could not.
"Democrats face a country whose opinion of President Biden has turned sharply to the negative since April," Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research said. "The promise of the Biden presidency — knowledge, competence and stability in tough times — have all been called into question."
Todd said, "Americans have lost their confidence in President Joe Biden and their optimism for the country."
Only 28% of survey-takers said Biden was doing a "good" or "very good" job of uniting the country, a campaign promise the president often vowed to accomplish if he was elected.
When asked if they saw the country "off on the wrong track," 71% said the country was headed in the wrong direction, including 48% of Democrats. A mere 22% saw the nation heading in the right direction in the poll of 1,000 U.S. adults.
There were 53% of participants who said the country's best years "may already be behind us," versus 41% who believe America's best years are still yet to come.
"When you see a wrong track of 71%, it is a flashing red light," Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies said. "These folks are telling us that this is not going well."
The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, also hinted that Democrats could be in trouble on several significant issues. The participants were asked which political party would do a better job with certain concerns. Republicans held double-digit advantages on border security (27 points), inflation (24 points), crime (22 points), national security (21 points), the economy (18 points), and "being effective and getting things done" (13 points). Democrats were said to do a better job on climate change (24 points), the COVID-19 pandemic (12 points), and abortion (by 10 points).
NBC News also noted, "GOP enjoys a significant enthusiasm advantage at this point in the election cycle, with 69% of Republicans expressing a high level of interest about the midterms (on a 1-to-10 scale), versus 58% of Democrats who hold the same level of interest."
Good Sunday morning —We have a brand new NBC News poll out this morning that's filled with tough news for Democra… https://t.co/02tTblqvd9
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) 1635685471.0
National public health officials in the U.S. are saying that vaccinated Americans may want to consider wearing masks again when traveling to areas with a low vaccination rate.
Though more than 156 million people in the U.S. are now fully vaccinated, public health officials are raising concerns over the "Delta variant", a coronavirus variant that emerged in India and appears to be more transmissible than other forms of the virus. It remains unclear whether this version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is deadlier than other versions, though some evidence suggests it is not.
In response to rising COVID-19 cases, believed to be caused by the Delta variant, some local communities are issuing strong recommendations for residents to return to masking, even if they've been fully vaccinated. Last week, the Los Angeles County department of Public Health in California and the St. Louis County and city public health departments in Missouri released health advisories urging a return to wearing masks indoors, NBC News reported.
Reached for comment, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky explained that vaccinated Americans are protected from all known variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, but may want to consider wearing a mask to protect unvaccinated individuals in their communities.
"If you're vaccinated, you have a very high degree of protection from all of the variants that we are aware of circulating in the United States," Walensky told NBC News.
Over 55% of Americans eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine have been fully vaccinated with both doses, which while significant means millions of Americans who can be vaccinated still are not. Walensky said there are an estimated 1,000 counties in the U.S. where fewer than 30% of residents have been vaccinated.
"If you're in a community that has a high amount of disease and less than a third of your population is vaccinated, one should consider whether the policy should be to mask," she said, explaining that masking is "more about protecting the two-thirds of the community that are not vaccinated."
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's top advisor on COVID-19, made similar comments to NBC News anchor Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" Sunday.
Fauci said vaccinated Americans should "go the extra mile" when traveling to parts of the country with a low vaccination rate.
"Vaccines are not, even as good as they are and highly effective, nothing is 100%," Fauci said.
WATCH: If you’re going to a place with a low vaccination rate, “go the extra mile” and wear a mask even if you’re v… https://t.co/Yqx6QaU19t
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) 1625408410.0
"If you put yourself in an environment in which you have a high level of viral dynamics and a very low level of vaccine, you might want to go the extra step and say 'When I'm in that area where there's a considerable degree of viral circulation, I might want to go the extra mile to be cautious enough to make sure that I get the extra added level of protection, even though the vaccines themselves are highly effective," he added.
The worry among scientists is that because the Delta variant is highly transmissible, vaccinated Americans may still carry the virus — even though they don't get sick — and spread it to people who have not been vaccinated. But whether this actually happens is unknown.
CDC guidelines currently state that fully vaccinated Americans may resume activities they participated in before the COVID-19 pandemic and may do so without wearing face coverings or social distancing. There is no indication that those guidelines will soon change.
Recommendations to return to masking are precautionary in the face of uncertainty and are meant to protect the unvaccinated. The personal decision on whether to wear a mask should balance the risks of doing so against the risk of spreading COVID-19, a deadly disease.
More than 33 million Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 600,000 have died from the disease since the outbreak of the pandemic.
If you had any lingering doubts that legacy media personalities sometimes lack objectivity, Chuck Todd decisively blew up those doubts Thursday.
Todd — host of "Meet the Press" and political director for NBC News — got noticeably angry and even pointed his finger over and over again at those in television media who question the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and who have been, as he claimed, "spreading misinformation."
"Folks, nearly 10,000 people died in the month of June. They were needless deaths," Todd said, referring to those reportedly succumbing to COVID-19. "Please get vaccinated. If you know someone who's not vaccinated, find a way to convince them to get vaccinated. Literally the only people dying are the unvaccinated."
Which, for the record, is close but literally not true. In May, fully vaccinated Americans made up about 0.8% of COVID-19 deaths in the country, the Associated Press said.
Todd then grew quite a bit more emotional; his voice got clipped and his breathing became huffy and puffy as he pointed and shook his finger at his counterparts on TV news who cast doubts on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
"And for those of you spreading misinformation, shame on you, shame on you" Todd continued angrily. "People are needlessly dying because of your misinformation. Think about it. I don't know how some of you sleep at night who are doing this for a living on television."
Here's the video:
NEW: CDC Director says one quarter of the U.S. cases are Delta variant. @ChuckTodd: "Please get vaccinated. ... A… https://t.co/8uWzOe9hWt
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) 1625162600.0
Before his brief meltdown, Todd noted that the country is "once again moving in the wrong direction with this virus" as he said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky reported a 10% increase in COVID-19 cases since last week and the "hyper transmissible" Delta variant accounted for 25% of them.
Todd added that Walensky said the Delta variant's spread is "being fueled by communities with low vaccination rates" and that "more than a thousand counties have a vaccination rate of lower than 30%."
Dr. Anthony Fauci earlier this week warned of "two Americas" emerging: areas where most people are vaccinated and places where most aren't.
On the other side of the coin, a study just found vaccinated U.S. military members with higher-than-expected rates of heart inflammation.
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