Biden Holds Steady From Inaugural, Through 100 Days, to Today

Joe Biden’s approval rating has held remarkably steady during his first six months in office. As the polling website 538 records, President Biden began a week after his inauguration with 54 percent and is at 52 percent today.

The Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research has tracked the Biden presidency with two online Zoom programs and a number of blog posts. View the experts’ opinions on Biden’s start-up after an extraordinary transition and his performance beating expectations after 100 days. The video links follow.

Video Now Available on “President Biden’s First 100 Days”

Did Biden make the grade in the first 100 days? Hear nationally known professors rate President Joe Biden in a discussion led by University of Denver Chancellor Jeremy Haefner with professors Tom Cronin, Andrea Benjamin, Seth Masket and Floyd Ciruli.

The May 4 program was sponsored by the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and the Center on American Politics.

WATCH VIDEO

Blogs to view:
President Biden’s First 100 Days – Key Points
Biden Gets an A- for First 100 Days
Biden Holds His Approval
Difficult Midterm Election Shapes Biden’s 100-Day Strategy

Video Now Available on “The First Week: Biden vs. Trump”  

President Joe Biden has inherited a formidable set of challenges, from a pandemic still spreading, a crippled economy, a social justice crisis, an injured political system and a weakened position in a threatening world.

A February Crossley Center Zoom event compared the transitions, the inaugurals, and President Trump’s and President Biden’s first weeks in office with perspectives by former Ambassador Christopher Hill, now at Columbia University; Colorado College professor (retired) and Presidential Scholar Tom Cronin; and Crossley Center Director Floyd Ciruli.

WATCH VIDEO

Blog to view:
Inaugurals: Trump and Biden

Boebert Pulls Opponent on the Money Escalator

Polarization with social media and some help from the pro- and anti-Trump bases make two Colorado candidates – one Republican and one Democrat – super fundraisers for next year’s 3rd district congressional race.

Charles Ashby, longtime political reporter on the Western Slope (Grand Junction Sentinel), described the lack of transparency in campaigns fundraising with social media and receiving contributions of $200 or less.

I described their success as a product of our polarized politics and the nationalization of a few congressional personalities, like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. But in Boebert’s case, she’s also lifting her most likely opponent, Democratic State Senator Kerry Donovan, into the top fundraising tier.

Rep. Lauren Boebert speaks at news conference on Capitol
Hill in Washington to complain about Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi masking policies and other topics,
July 29, 2021 | Andrew Harnik/AP

Floyd Ciruli, a University of Denver public opinion and foreign policy professor who is director of DU’s Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research, said that’s because many congressional races have attracted national attention, which is polarizing people to donate to candidates who aren’t going to be their representatives in Congress.

While Donovan isn’t widely known on a national level, because Boebert is, Donovan likely is seeing a lot more financial support nationally than she might otherwise, Ciruli said.

“I would assume that the vast majority of that money is outside (of the state) because these are nationalized races,” he said.

“Ms. Boebert has a reputation as a strong Trump person, a gun rights person, and as just a person who can irritate liberals, and that attracts a massive national audience,” Ciruli added. “I can’t imagine that kind of money coming from Colorado. Boebert is a No. 1 target along with (U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor) Greene and a handful of others. Liberal interest groups and wealthy individuals around this country are dedicated to removing her.”

WACO WAVE

If your grandchildren need a summer retreat with fun and lots of water toys, take them to Waco, Texas. We took our two surfing-addicted grandsons – one just starting high school and the other college – to the Barefoot Surf Ranch (BSR) just east of town and the Brazos River.

Do these two kids look like they’re having fun? There are high water slides and lakes for wake boarding. I know it sounds implausible – surfing in Waco in 100 plus degrees? Accommodations are a little primitive, but a lot like a trip to the mountains or other summer retreats. Try it.

Dick Lamm – The Governor Who Led the 1970s Environmental Shift in Colorado Politics Has Passed

Dick Lamm’s election in 1974 as governor brought a generation of leaders, mostly Baby Boomers, into Colorado’s state and local government. They ran his campaign, worked in state government and staffed the campaigns in Colorado for many years. He had the wind of Watergate at his back and was joined in office by new Democratic Senator Gary Hart, Congressperson Tim Wirth, State Treasurer Sam Brown and control of the State House for the first time in many years.

He had begun his political career championing abortion rights when few were engaged on the issue and defeated most of the state’s political and business establishment by championing a ballot initiative to reject the 1976 Winter Olympics, which had already been awarded to the state. The establishment truly disliked him. But, he was highly popular with Colorado independent-style voters. Along with a zero growth philosophy, he was fiscally conservative and as independent of the Democratic Party establishment as the Republicans. Much of what he wrote and said in his career was provocative, frequently foreboding. He ran a quixotic campaign for the presidential nomination in Ross Perot’s Reform Party in 1996. No chance since Perot wanted it. Ultimately, he was a better professor and provocateur than politician.

But, he laid the foundation for nearly 50 years of Democratic governors (Republican Bill Owens from 1998 to 2006 the only exception).

President Jimmy Carter was greeted by a receiving line of
Colorado officials, including from left, Denver Mayor Bill
McNichols, Lt. Gov. George Brown and Gov. Richard.
Lamm. Behind Carter are two of meentourage which traveled
with him on Air Force One, from left, Sen. Floyd Haskell,
D-Colo. and Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., 1977
Photo via Bill Johnson/Denver Post

Read: Colorado Leadership Over Four Decades

The Future of Polling is Linked to the Future of Democracy and They Are Both in Crisis

The problems with polling, especially as seen in the 2020 November election, has been widely described and the crisis of democracy in the U.S. and around the world is the subject of a torrent of programs, reports and books. The link between the twin crises of polling and democracy is described and discussed in a series of presentations with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI at DU), a nonprofit adult educational foundation, and Floyd Ciruli of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Denver. Polling needs democracy to survive and democracy has become highly dependent upon and benefited from polling. View the two programs presented by OLLI and the Crossley Center.

Video on "Polling in 2020 and Its Future"

Join members of OLLI in a program on the election polling in November 2020 and what it means for democracy in the U.S. Floyd Ciruli, director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research, presented and answered questions on what happened to the polls in 2020 and the future of election polls.

The video begins directly with lecture and PowerPoint slides. If you would like a copy of the slides, contact the Crossley Center at: Floyd.ciruli@du.edu. 

WATCH VIDEO

Blog to view:
Polling in 2020: Worst in 40 Years?

Video on "American Democracy in Crisis"

Hear the “American Democracy in Crisis” webinar sponsored by the Boulder OLLI Speaker Series held on February 3. The insurrection on January 6, 2021 was a 9/11 event for democracy. The transition of power – a bedrock element of American democracy from George Washington through Barack Obama – was directly challenged by a mob motivated, assembled and inspired by President Donald Trump, his family and retainers.

The OLLI webinar describes the four years of damage to American democracy and the serious threats that lie ahead. 

WATCH VIDEO

Blogs to view:
Biden Defends Democracy
Presidential Abuse of Power
American People Believe Democracy in Trouble

Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather at the
west entrance of the Capitol during a “Stop the Steal” protest in
Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021 | Stephanie Keith/Reuters

Join Ambassador Chris Hill at WorldDenver

Ambassador Christopher Hill will speak in Denver at a WorldDenver event on August 25, 2021 at 6:00 pm. The former dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies is now a professor of diplomacy at Columbia University. He remains close to his State Department friends and the Biden administration. His comments will be well informed.

WorldDenver is an excellent organization bringing top foreign affairs experts to Colorado. As the flyer states, this reception is for past, present and prospective members (click here to register).

Freedom Dies in Hong Kong

President Xi Jinping, and his Chinese Communist Party, fresh from celebrating their 50th anniversary, have just accomplished the mission started in early 2020. They are extinguishing any political freedom in Hong Kong, an abrogation of understandings of the handover in 1997 (one country, two systems).

Fearful of children’s books and stories, publishers were rounded up and placed in custody with black hoods. The CCP wants a more docile Hong Kong citizen, and education from colleges to children’s books are now the target. The new 2020 national security law, which uses vague language outlining succession, subversion, collusion with foreign powers and terrorism provides sweeping authority for Hong Kong security police. It was used earlier against newspaper reporters with Apple Daily.

Xi Jinping has turned China into a parish for democracy preferring people, which is visible in polls, and the growing international alliance of anti-Chinese human rights policies.

A hooded suspect led by a police officer during the arrests of five
leaders of a speech therapists’ union in Hong Kong,
July 22, 2021 | Vincent Yu/Associated Press

Read:

Hong Kong Takes Aim at Children’s Books Deemed Seditious
Hong Kong Becomes a Chinese Security Issue
Xi Era
Democracy is Dead in Hong Kong – Yes 61%
Hong Kong’s Pollster, Robert Chung, President-elect of WAPOR
Polling is Dangerous