WHERE IS AMERICAN DEMOCRACY TODAY  ?  1-04-2021 

1 Intelligence for leaders. Presented by Facebook       By Olivier Knox with Mariana Alfaro  Email As President Biden holds his first in-person Cabinet meeting today, a pair of public opinion polls find he’s the broadly popular leader of (uh-oh) a democracy a majority of Americans think is sick, beset by corrupt politicians out of touch with the people, and needing an overhaul. The contrasting numbers hint at the steep political challenges facing Biden, who isn’t even 100 days into his presidency, and the potential lingering political potency of populist outsiders from the left or right elected to shake up the system (whether they do or not). They also raise the stakes for the Democrat’s ambitious agenda, which is anchored on the idea that most Americans want their government to deliver a sweeping suite of services and battle social ills like racist prejudice. Biden’s newly released $2 trillion infrastructure package is a massive down payment on that approach. President Biden waves as he boards Air Force One for his return to Washington from Pittsburgh International Airport on Wednesday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) For months, Biden’s aides have made clear they believe his presidency will be judged — by history, or as early as the 2022 midterms — based on his handling of the pandemic and the economy. On that score, he appears to be doing well. Not only do 73 percent of Americans overall approve of his handling of the coronavirus, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll taken last week — but roughly half of Republicans do. Biden’s numbers on the economy have ticked up since passage of his $1.9 trillion rescue package — the one sending $1,400 checks to millions of Americans — from 55 percent a month ago to 60 percent, the poll found. His overall job approval came in at a sturdy 61 percent. Sixty-two percent of Americans approve of his handling of health care. Fifty-five percent like his foreign policy. (Former president Donald Trump’s job approval never broke 50 percent). The president’s support goes a little wobbly on issues like guns, where 45 percent approve of his approach. On the border and immigration — over which Republicans have targeted Biden — his numbers are 44 percent and 42 percent, respectively. There are broad partisan divisions, of course. On foreign policy, 69 percent of Democrats say infectious diseases are a threat to the United States, while just 47 percent of Republicans say the same. And more Republicans (68 percent) than Democrats (44 percent) say they worry about China’s global influence.  Partisan divisions play a huge role in another assessment of public opinion, conducted in November and December of 2020 and released yesterday by the Pew Research Center. But the main takeaway has to be how unhappy Americans are with, well, America. Can American democracy make do unchanged, or with tinkering? Thirty-five percent said yes. But 65 percent said it needs a major change or a full overhaul. Does “most politicians are corrupt” describe America? Sixty-seven percent of Americans agreed it does. (And just 31 percent said no). Republicans were more likely to say so than Democrats (78 percent vs. 60 percent). But still.  Fifty-six percent of respondents disagreed with the statement “elected officials care what ordinary people think” and 53 percent said they were dissatisfied with the way democracy is working in the United States. While the AP poll was conducted last week, Pew did its survey in the weeks after Biden won the election but before the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, at a time when Trump was spreading the lie he was cheated out of a second term. Satisfaction with democracy, like so many other things, is also a partisan experience. Republicans were more than twice as happy with the state of things from 2017 to 2019 as Democrats — 57 percent versus 26 percent, respectively. After Biden won in November 2020, 50 percent of Democrats were satisfied, while just 39 percent of Republicans agreed. The Pew survey also found 54 percent of Americans trust government to do the right thing, and 43 percent do not. That’s compared to 51 percent and 47 percent, respectively, right after Trump took office. (The Pew survey looked at all of these numbers in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Among its findings: Just 20 percent of French respondents said they trusted the government in 2017, but 55 percent said so late last year — a remarkably volatile change.) Trust in government is also a partisan question. Just after Trump’s inauguration, 66 percent of GOP voters and those who leaned Republican said they trusted the government, compared to 42 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaners. After the November 2020 election, more Democrats (59 percent) than Republicans (49 percent) trust government. In one sign populism is here to stay, the Pew poll found 79 of all Americans are somewhat or very supportive of creating citizen assemblies to make recommendations on national laws while 73 percent favor allowing citizens not Congress vote on what becomes law. The Pew poll was done between Biden’s victory and the Jan. 6 insurrection, and attitudes have likely changed since then. But it still lays out the challenge for Biden. Can he stay popular, and change Americans’ views of government?   What’s happening now Americans filed 719,000 initial unemployment claims last week. The surprise increase comes a week after the tally set a pandemic-era low, It's another sign of the unpredictable path that economic recovery has taken during the crisis.  Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine protects against the virus for at least six months after the second dose. “New data from the ongoing trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has reinforced early results showing its high efficacy and there are also indications it is effective against the more virulent South African variant,"  Virginia will expand vaccine eligibility to everyone in the state over the age of 16 by April 18. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) made the announcement this morning, citing significant progress in vaccinating the highest-risk groups, Meagan Flynn reports.  Derek Chauvin’s trial entered its fourth day of testimony this morning. Floyd’s girlfriend, Courtney Ross, told the court Floyd tested positive for the coronavirus in “late March” last year. She described him as constantly active despite having chronic back pain and said he never complained of shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, Kim Bellware reports. The defense’s strategy includes the argument that Floyd died as a result of other underlying health factors. Ross also told prosecutors that the couple’s chronic pain issues led to their addiction to opioids. “It’s a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids,” Ross, 45, said.

👎・.