President Biden is discovering the hard way that standing at a podium bathed in blood-red light, flanked by marines, and denouncing your political opponents as threats to the country is not as popular a move as he hoped. Poll after poll finds Americans repulsed by the September 1 fear-fest in Philadelphia, which drew comparisons to V for Vendetta and Star Wars for its over-the-top authoritarian tone. The president tried to convince the country that his critics are dangerous, but he seems to have convinced many, instead, that the real peril lives in the White House.
"It represents a dangerous escalation in rhetoric and is designed to incite conflict among Americans" was the choice of 56.8 percent of respondents asked in a Trafalgar/Convention of States poll to characterize Biden's speech.* Another 35.5 percent called it "acceptable campaign messaging" and 7.7 percent weren't sure.
