Despite President Joe Biden’s declaration in July that the U.S. was "closer than ever to declaring independence" from COVID-19, the nation is grappling with an increase in cases and deaths, Newsweek is reporting.
Biden had said on July 4: "Two hundred and forty-five years ago, we declared our independence from a distant king. Today, we are closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus."
And he added: "Over the last year, we have lived through some of our darkest days. We are about to see our brightest future."
He did acknowledge COVID-19 had not been "vanquished" and warned about "powerful variants."
Newsweek noted that since Biden made the speech about 15,760,000 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the U.S. — more than twice the number of cases the U.S. had in the five months leading up to his address. In addition, the U.S. has also recorded 184,245 deaths since July 4.
The news outlet said Americans appear to be losing confidence with the president’s COVID-19 response.
According to FiveThirtyEight, more than 60% of Americans approved of how the president was handling the pandemic at the time of his speech. It has now dropped to 47.4% approval.
Now, another poll has revealed underwater approval ratings for Biden as the first year of his administration winds down, leading pollsters to sound alarms for Democrats heading into the 2022 midterm elections.
Biden's overall approval rating stands at just 43% among U.S. adults in the latest NPR/Marist national poll released Thursday, compared to 51% who disapprove of the job Biden has done.
Meanwhile, Newsweek reported the surge in cases has forced some hospitals to start rationing care as they are near or at capacity.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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