President Joe Biden tends to deliver his most unvarnished attacks on his political adversaries at campaign fundraisers, away from the glare of television cameras. And lately one of his most frequent targets \u2014 second only to former President Donald Trump \u2014 is another persistent fixture of the 2024 race: public polling data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any of the polls matter this early around because it\u2019s hard to get a good poll these days,\u201d Biden told campaign donors in Chicago last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At another one in Atlanta, the president cautioned, \u201cIt\u2019s harder to make any poll rational these days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His critiques of public polling data are as frequent \u2014 coming up in at least ten of his fundraisers since May 1 \u2014 as they are technical, delving into the mechanics that he says might be presenting flawed results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to make \u2014 I don\u2019t know what it is \u2014 36, 40 calls to get one person to respond. Hardly anybody has hard lines anymore,\u201d Biden said before an audience of 3,000 at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles last weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re blaming caller ID for this?\u201d late night host Jimmy Kimmel teased the president in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden\u2019s criticism of polling coincides with data persistently showing a razor close race between him and Trump, and the former president leading in some key battleground states. Such polls, as well as those outlining voter concerns about his age or his handling of the economy, have fueled Democrats\u2019 nerves about the president\u2019s re-election prospects. As the November election has gotten closer, Biden has tried to ease their anxiety by addressing them head on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president\u2019s advisers don\u2019t dispute the race is close, and believe it will remain that way through Election Day. Biden\u2019s team also regularly conducts its own polling that\u2019s more intensive and expensive than most public polls, and offers a deeper look at how voters are feeling, which informs the president\u2019s view of the race because it\u2019s part of his regular, detailed campaign briefings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden aides also say it\u2019s no accident that he makes most of his unprompted public commentary about polls in front his campaign\u2019s financial supporters, as they are among those most concerned about the numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His comments take on various forms, but each one seems trained on the same goal: excusing or explaining away a less than ideal standing ahead of the November election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president dives into the weeds of polling methodology, as he did at the fundraisers in Chicago, Atlanta and near Seattle. He offers his own analysis of the state of play for donors \u2014 \u201cWe run strongest among likely voters in the polling data. That\u2019s a good sign,\u201d Biden told donors last month. \u201cWhile the national polls basically have us registered voters up by four, likely voters we\u2019re up by more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He blames the media\u2019s presentation of the data. \u201cWhile the press doesn\u2019t write about it, the momentum is clearly in our favor,\u201d Biden said at a fundraiser in New York in April. \u201cPolls are moving towards us and away from Trump.\u201d At another recent fundraiser, Biden said pundits have \u201cbeen wrong about everything so far in the polling,\u201d pointing to Democrats\u2019 strong showing in the 2022 midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you look at the actual votes in primaries, as opposed to the polls, we\u2019re running much stronger than Mr. Trump is,\u201d Biden told supporters at another fundraiser last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When reporters have asked Biden about his poll numbers, his responses have ranged from dismissive to annoyed. \u201cRead the polls, Jack,\u201d he snapped at one reporter seeking his reaction to polls showing many Democrats didn\u2019t want him to seek re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are times when he\u2019s said he doesn\u2019t read the polls. \u201cThis is a process, and it\u2019s going to be up and down,\u201d Biden said at a news conference during his first year in office. \u201cThat\u2019s why I don\u2019t look at the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other instances, the president has gone into painstaking detail that suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe last 23 polls, we\u2019re ahead in ten of them, and he\u2019s ahead in eight, and we\u2019re tied in five,\u201d Biden said during the New York fundraiser, referring to Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden campaign aides have had to spend so much time answering to public polling data that they\u2019ve adopted the adage, \u201cPolls don\u2019t vote, voters vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked about the president\u2019s approach to polls, the Biden campaign\u2019s communications director, Michael Tyler, said in a statement, \u201cThis campaign does not allow outsized media coverage of the horse race and polls with zero predictive value distract us from what we know we need to be focused on as a campaign to reach the voters who are going to decide the election.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president\u2019s aides nonetheless hope that his performance next week at the first 2024 general election presidential debate gives Biden a boost in the polls, or at least diminishes Trump\u2019s standing. And Biden allies this week latched onto a poll<\/a> that showed promising signs for the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n