Responding to the latest polling out of the New York Times and Siena College, which found that 49% of likely voters plan to vote for a Republication to represent them in Congress, compared to 45% who plan to vote for a Democrat, “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski said that Republicans have a “narrow, but distinct” advantage. These numbers are a one-point improvement from last month.
The poll showed that the economy and inflation are the top two issues concerning Americans right now, along with the state of democracy, abortion and immigration. Scarborough doubled down and said that inflation is becoming a “burden” for Democratic candidates, particularly after last week’s inflation report.
“You have an overwhelming number of Americans believing that the country is going in the wrong direction,” Scarborough said.
Rev. Al Sharpton, who was on the line as a pundit on the matter, agreed, citing the economy and inflation as two issues that are entangled in Americans’ everyday lives.
“You can deny reality, but you can’t escape it,” Sharpton said. “The fact of the matter is that — as much as I and others want to deal with the fact that democracy is at stake here — people are reacting to their own economic condition. When you look at the fact that gas prices are going back up, grocery [prices] are going up, 401K plans are taking a 25% hit – this is where people live, and the Democrats have to address that.”
Sharpton added that while these issues aren’t the fault of the current administration, President Biden and his Democratic colleagues need to properly address them to gain voters’ trust.
“If you don’t address [the fact that] tax cuts to the wealthy are the reasons that we began this slow walk here, and you just talk about things that are not immeditately the concern of people, you lose their votes and you lose their ear,” he said.
Scarborough said that while Americans care about various issues, their focus is on “what’s in front of them every single day,” as many Americans feel like they’re “falling further and further behind” as inflation continues to loom upon the nation.
The co-host added: “[Americans] are looking at their grocery prices, they’re looking at their gas prices, they’re looking at the fact that they can’t even afford a used car because that market’s skyrocketing, they’re looking at rent. If you’re a young voter, you love the fact that your college loans were forgiven. Maybe you like what [the Biden administration] did on marijuana. All of these things for younger voters sound great, but then they’re trying to buy their first house, [and] they can’t do it because the costs have exploded and interest rates are so high.”
“Inflation is really burdening Democratic candidates across the country,” Scarborough continued. “This is going to be a real challenge for Democrats over the next three weeks. And right now, history is in the Republican’s favor.”
You can watch the full video here or in the embed above.
