Last week, President Joe Biden gave a speech warning that "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic." Since then, Republicans have been performing umbrage. This, in turn, led to a great deal of media worrying about whether Biden's speech was "divisive" or could backfire by recasting the fight to save democracy in "partisan" terms. There was reason to be worried. Americans tend to distrust politicians, viewing their public proclamations as political noise better dismissed than taken seriously. But in this case, it appears Biden's choice to give the speech worked to focus voter attention on the very real threat to democracy posed by Trump and the MAGA movement.
Biden gave his speech right before Labor Day weekend and then Reuters/Ipsos polled Americans after the holiday. What they found was a solid 58% of respondents agreed with Biden that Trump and his movement are undermining democracy. Interestingly, 59% also agreed that the speech was "divisive," showing that all the media handwringing was influencing people's responses. Clearly, a lot of respondents are of the belief that they are smart enough to see the truth in Biden's words but worry that other Americans are not. Still, Biden accomplished what he set out to do. Americans are listening, paying attention, and really beginning to believe the threat to democracy is real.
