‘We’re going to take this on,’ Iowa Democratic leader says Biden’s approval ratings

JOHNSTON — At the top of the ballot, Democratic candidates in Iowa are faced with their party’s incumbent president who has an abysmal job approval number in the state.

Historically, that means a significant headwind for the party’s candidates for state and other federal offices.

Rita Hart, the Iowa Democratic Party state chairwoman, sees an opportunity for Iowa Democrats to buck that historical trend in 2024.

Hart said Friday she believes the choice for president — between Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump — provides a “stark” contrast and that Democrats have “a good story” to tell about Biden’s term in the White House.

“I think that we’re going to take this on. I think we’re going to be able to tell a good story about all of the things that Joe Biden has done to make Iowans’ lives better,” Hart said in discussing election-year headwinds and other topics during the taping of this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.

Nearly 7 out of 10 Iowans disapprove of the job Biden is doing, while a scant 29 percent of Iowans approve of Biden’s job performance, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll published in March.

Historically, when a party’s candidate at the top of the ballot has low job approval numbers, that party’s other candidates are negatively impacted.

Talking points

Hart, though, said Iowa Democrats will talk to voters about actions Biden and congressional Democrats have taken on infrastructure funding, capping insulin costs for Medicaid patients, and on health care.

And she said Democrats will point to corporate profits as the cause of inflation, rather than federal pandemic relief spending.

Hart said Democrats describe Biden to voters as someone who is “working to lower costs for Iowans, who is working on improving health care for Iowans and Americans, who is somebody who is on a much different path by working for common working Americans, rather than to give tax cuts to billionaires and millionaires and to cater to special interests.”

Democrats will be able to talk “about how (Biden) is working on lowering costs for Iowans by taking on ‘shrinkflation’ and to talk about the greed that is causing prices to rise,” Hart said.

“But here in Iowa, I think people really like to focus in on Iowa itself. So I think the candidates will definitely be listening to Iowans and talking about their concerns and what they can do to make Iowans’ lives better.”

Hart also said Iowa Democrats will describe the presidential election as a choice between Biden and, in Trump, a candidate “who is a convicted felon, who has the potential to actually be elected from jail, that he is morally compromised, that he’s a draft dodger.”

Trump recently was convicted on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in New York.

“I could go on and on about all the reasons why it doesn’t make sense to elect this guy into the most respected office in the country,” Hart said.

Down ticket in Iowa

There is no U.S. Senate election in Iowa this year, but Democrats hope to regain congressional seats.

Central Iowa’s 3rd District election between first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and Democratic challenger Lanon Baccam, and Eastern Iowa’s 1st District rematch between Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan are expected to be competitive and draw national party resources.

Democrats also hope to chip away at Republicans’ strong majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature.

GOP response

“Chairwoman Hart is right about one thing in this interview: The contrast between Trump and Biden is definitely clear. President Biden is completely unfit for office and has done nothing but hurt our country,” Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in an emailed response to The Gazette.

“Democrats legitimately cannot say a good thing Biden has done in office, so instead they choose to attack President Trump. Biden’s America is a complete contrast of the safe, prosperous and respected America that President Trump sowed,” Kaufmann said. “Biden has not ‘lowered costs,’ as the chairwoman suggested. Rather, two-thirds of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck as inflation and prices skyrocket. The only strategy Democrats have this cycle is to lie.”

“Iowa Press” airs on Iowa PBS at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on Iowa PBS World, and can be viewed any time online at iowapbs.org.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com