In 2016, the media generally dismissed the idea that Donald Trump had a chance of winning the election. You can’t really blame them, as all the polls said Hillary Clinton was a lock. It was thrilling to watch liberal pundits melt down on air after Trump started winning states they never expected him to win.
This year, the media is already starting to panic that Trump is on the verge of making a triumphant return to the White House.
Two polls in particular have gotten a lot of attention in the past few days: a Wall Street Journal poll showing Trump and Biden tied at 46% and a CNN poll showing Biden losing by a point to Trump and losing to virtually every single Republican opponent—even Chris Christie for crying out loud.
According to the White House, Joe Biden is the most successful president in the history of the nation. They say the economy is strong and that job creation is at historic highs. Heck, they even claim that Biden brought down inflation, something anyone who has bought groceries or gas knows simply isn’t true. The media generally parrots the White House talking points about Joe Biden, so when recent polls started showing that general election matchups between Trump and Biden are in a dead heat, left-wing pundits couldn’t understand it and started freaking out. Meanwhile, I can’t help being reminded of the shock the media experienced on election night in 2016.
“It is kind of shocking in a way, that despite all of the baggage that Donald Trump carries, he’s tied with Joe Biden right now,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos lamented earlier this week about the recent Wall Street Journal poll. “With every passing month, with every new indictment, Donald Trump seems to be consolidating his control over the Republican Party.”
Related: Joe Biden Is Really Screwed Now
“After the mugshot and four criminal indictments, you would think that President Biden would have [a] significant advantage, but apparently not,” New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker observed on Saturday.
CNN’s Jim Acosta was similarly shell-shocked by the poll. “I guess we would be remiss if we were to pass over this Wall Street Journal poll, that found even rates between Trump and Joe Biden, 46% for each,” he begrudgingly conceded on Sunday. “The man on the left side of the screen is the President of the United States and the man on the right is former president of the United States with four indictments, and he is still tied with Joe Biden in the poll.”
They would be shocked. Why? Because they live in a liberal bubble and don’t realize that Americans perceive the indictments of Trump as being political. They also don’t seem to understand that Joe Biden isn’t exactly popular.
“If the president goes on to lose reelection to Trump — or any other Republican — the warning signs contained in the CNN poll, which mirrors his troubles in other recent surveys but goes far deeper on reasons for his malaise, will have foreshadowed the story of his downfall,” writes Stephen Collinson at CNN.
Amen to that. Amen.
